Portland Millionaire Street

Richie Carter and Emma O’Dell share a love story that began on the deck of a Royal Navy ice patrol ship 8,000 miles away in one of the most remote corners of the world.

Now, more than two decades later, the pair are raising a glass to another extraordinary twist of fate - sharing a £1 Million prize pot with their neighbours.

And sitting on a combined £133,332, the couple say they’re excited to invest in long-overdue home upgrades and buy a new car that better fits their active lifestyle.

Emma and Richie were among 13 Portland neighbours sharing our weekly Millionaire Street prize when DT5 1DA was announced as today's winner.

Each winning ticket was worth £66,666, but two of the winners held two tickets to double their windfall.

Richie said: "I've never been this nervous even after everything I’ve done, joining the Navy, getting married, job interviews. It's a bizarre feeling but in a nice way."

The lottery win is just another crazy chapter in the couple’s lives after first meeting on the other side of the world while serving on HMS Endurance.

Richie spent 23 years in the Navy as an aircraft engineer working on Lynx helicopters, while Emma served as a communications technician.

They got married at Portland Castle in 2020 during COVID with just their neighbours as their witnesses.

Richie said: "It was a COVID wedding, and we had the whole castle and the grounds to ourselves for a couple hours. And then we went to the pub for steak and chips.

Richie, who now works in site maintenance for an engineering company and Emma as a veterinary nurse, are now planning their next adventure.

He added: "I’ll enjoy shopping around for cars. It needs to be something big enough that we can all go on holiday with the dog, that we can get the fishing and paddleboarding gear in."

The couple made the savvy decision to buy one ticket each when they joined Postcode Lottery.

Emma said: "We both signed up because my brother-in-law's sister won £10,000 on Postcode Lottery over a decade ago."

Richie added: "We said at the time, let's both play - because you'd be pig sick if only one of us won."

Further up the road, Jane Barnard also won £66,666 on her birthday after enduring one of the hardest years of her life.

Jane said: "It's overwhelming - one of the best birthdays I've ever had. I've played for years and thought about cancelling a couple of times, but I always told myself, you never know."

Jane's win comes after a series of devastating challenges. She lost her husband, Tim, nine years ago - just months after they had moved to the area to semi-retire.

In the past year alone, she has faced her roof collapsing, battled anxiety and depression and struggled through the stress of repairs that dragged on for months.

She said: "It’s just been awful. The roof nearly caved in. It’s taken 10 months to sort, and I’ve been living with tarpaulin noise, and stress. I’ve never had anxiety before, but this year it all caught up with me."

The mum-of-two says the win feels like it might even be a little gift from her late husband.

She smiled and said: "I thought, he's looking down on me."

She added: "I can finally get things back to normal and look forward to the future."

The neighbours' win also means local charities have benefitted from thousands of pounds of support thanks to Postcode Lottery players.

And one organisation, Andrew Simpson Foundation, has received £80,000 funding thanks to the Millionaire Street prize landing locally.

The sailing charity - inspired by the legacy of the late Olympic gold medallist Andrew 'Bart' Simpson MBE - believes every young person regardless of background should have access to the life-changing benefits of being on the water.

From building self-belief to unlocking potential, they use sailing 'as a powerful tool for education, well-being and community connection'.

Andrew was considered to be one of the world's best sailors in the Laser and Finn classes. And in 2008, he won gold in Beijing with boyhood friend Iain Percy. The dad-of-two sadly died in 2013 when he became trapped under a boat while training in San Francisco Bay.

On their website ASF say: "Reflecting on all that has been achieved by the ASF so far, we are proud to say that Bart’s legacy has, and will always, continue to sail on."

Deserving Projects

Today's prize is part of a draw promoted on behalf of Postcode Education Trust. Supported by our players, this trust has a mission to provide education particularly in emergency situations.

Players aren't the only ones who benefit from People's Postcode Lottery. A minimum of 30% of each ticket price goes to charities and good causes. Thanks to our fantastic players, more than £1.5 Billion has been raised for thousands of deserving projects.

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