A £50,000 win was on the menu for Morecambe chef Colin Scott after bagging the sum on his very first Lake District Giveaways competition.

Colin was working at the town’s The Blue Mountain Restaurant, which he co-owns, when he was called by family to tell him of the good news.

“I didn’t even realise it was being drawn that day. I thought ‘I’ll finish my shift and look into it’,” said the 59 year old.

Then followed an email from the Lake District Giveaways team, urging him to get in touch as the phone number he’d provided didn’t work – Colin had mistyped it! Eagle eyed viewers of our Facebook live will remember us desperately trying to ring through to Colin but to no avail.

“It was quite weird because I was working as well, so my mind was all over the place. Thankfully it was coming to the end of the night, so we turned the last couple of tables around, then I sat down, got myself a cup of coffee and thought ‘wow’,” said Colin.

Perfect timing

The win had come at the right time as Colin had just received a VAT bill to pay. “A couple of days before, I was thinking ‘how am I going to pay my rent at the end of the month’. So it solved a lot of problems straight away. It’s taken away any financial worries that I might’ve had.”

The first thing Colin did with the money was gift some to his daughter, Catherine Leonard, 33, and then he put some into premium bonds and booked himself a holiday to Egypt.

His big win hasn’t stopped him from entering Lake District Giveaways competitions either, as Colin still buys tickets every so often. “There’s no harm in it,” he said. “It’s giving a portion back. I believe in supporting local.”

“In it to win it”

Colin had heard of people he knew winning through Lake District Giveaways, which prompted him to give it a go himself. He won £40 site credit with his first entry, so decided to plow it back into the same £50,000 competition. “You’ve got to be in it to win it,” he said.

Colin is also looking to invest further into a micro gin distillery business he runs with his daughter and son in law, Peter. The trio started The Three Wheel Gin Company in 2019 in a basement flat of the restaurant, and Colin, who grew up in Brough, now plans to reinvest more money into the business.

Could you be our next big winner? Click here to see all our current competitions!