Despite winning a staggering £7.6 million fortune, life didn’t change that much for Britain’s most generous lotto winners.
Widower Ray Wragg, now 86, alongside his late wife Barbara, scooped the eyewatering sum back in January 2000 when they matched all six numbers in the National Lottery.
What the couple did next was even more remarkable though, as they embarked on a two-decade spree of philantropy which saw them give away almost the entirety of their jackpot prize.
Continuing to live a modest lifestyle, Ray and Barbara opted to see thousands of people in their local city of Sheffield benefit from their spoils.
Ray, who had worked as a roofer and Barbara, who had worked as a nightshift nurse, decided that after purchasing a new Range Rover and indulging on a Caribbean cruise, that the money would be better spent on family and friends, as well as 17 separate local charities.
The couple’s generosity scaled to such heights that they even received a special reward from the National Lottery and were granted invites to Buckingham Palace and the Pride of Britain awards.
Unfortunately, Barbara passed away from sepsis in 2018 at the age of 77, but had previously claimed that their winnings were ‘too much for two people’.
And reflecting on the win almost a quarter of a century on, Ray says the windfall never changed them as people.
Ray and Barbara Wragg won an eyewatering £7.6 million when they matched six numbers in the National Lottery draw in January 2000
Speaking to the BBC, the lotto winner said: ‘I was working, Barbara was working, the kids were working.. We were all right. Like other families do, we saved up.
‘It changed our lives but not us as persons. That’s stood us in good stead. I still look at the price of a pair of socks you know’.
An avid Sheffield United fan, Ray had been due to return to a building site in South Wales at 8am the following Monday morning but rang his boss to inform him he’d not be there.
The couple ‘effectively retired’ from work that evening, but still somehow kept celebrations to a minimum.
Ray and Barbara even found the time to share a can of Guinness and a glass of wine as they soaked in the enormity of the win before calling their children to share incredible news.
The extent of the pair’s charitable acts is truly a sight to behold though.
One of their first major donations was a new bladder scanner for Sheffield Hallamshire Hospital, along with the further gifting of funds to Weston Park Hospital where their daughter had been previously treated for Ewing’s sarcoma.
Other philantropic deeds included the purchasing of 30 television sets for local hospices so that each child could watch TV in bed.
The extent of the couple’s generosity knew no bounds, with the pair donating large amounts to 17 local charities following their unexpected windfall
The Braggs generous acts included paying for hundreds of school children to attend Sheffield’s annual pantomime at Christmas time
They also footed the bill six years running for over 250 local inner-city school children to attend the Sheffield pantomime at Christmas time.
On another occasion, Barbara wrote the Royal Hallamshire Hospital’s breast clinic a £5,000 cheque on a whim when she spotted a donations jar in the reception area.
The couple even once helped a group of World War Two veterans on a trip to honour fallen comrades in 2003 and paid for 50 war heroes to visit Italy for the 60th anniversary of the battle of Monte Cassino the following year after they had failed to secure enough funding.
Having helped thousands of people through their charitable efforts, not every donation or kind act can be recounted, but some other notable beneficiaries included Bluebell Wood Children’s Hospice, the Make a Wish Foundation, Whirlow Hall Farm Trust, the Meningitis Trust and Help The Aged.
