A PUB syndicate from Whitwell is celebrating after scooping more than �100,000 on a lottery win.

The lucky group, made up of 13 regulars at The Bull Inn, plus landlady Claire Smerdon, won �127,298, or just over �9,000 each.

They matched five numbers with the bonus ball in a Saturday night draw to clinch the prize.

“We didn’t realise we had won until Sunday lunchtime,” said Claire, who bought the ticket at Asda in Stevenage.

“Having missed the show on Saturday night, I asked my husband to check the numbers in the paper. It was still early lunchtime so there was only two of us in the pub when he turned to me and said ‘I think we’ve won something substantial’!”

“I took the ticket upstairs to check the numbers again on our computer and sure enough, we had matched five numbers and the bonus ball.

“It was overwhelming to sit looking at a screen with �127,298 on it. It was only after I’d phone Camelot to make certain it was right that the excitement really began to kick in.”

Claire then decided to call the syndicate members into the pub to reveal their windfall.

“I decided to call and invite everyone along to the pub to break the news properly, although rumours had already started to spread after our neighbour had spotted my husband jumping up and down on the pavement outside,” said Claire.

“The syndicate members are friends as well as customers and we had a great afternoon and evening celebrating together. It is a lovely amount that has really helped a lot of people.

“I’ll use some of my winnings to invest in the pub, but I’ll still make sure I fit in a few treats as well. I’m already looking for a newer car and now I can plan a holiday before the end of the year, something that wasn’t on the cards before.”

The other members of the syndicate who took part in the publicity are Toby Curtis, David Ewington, Jim Withey, Mike Roache, Mike Farrelly, Dave Gould, Niel Anderson, Peter Cross, Christopher Page and Patrick Dimmock.

Between them they have various hopes on what to spend the money on, including a wedding and trekking in Tibet.

“They say that good things come in threes,” added Claire.

“We won �50 a couple of weeks before this windfall, so now we’ve got our fingers crossed that a third win could be coming our way!”