A “tyred” out foreman thought he was dreaming as he woke up to excited shouting from his partner revealing he’d just won £22,000.
Hardy’s tyre fitter, Alex Galloway, who lives in Penrith, entered the Audi SQ5 or cash alternative competition in December, spending around £60 on tickets.
He tuned in to see the results on the Lake District Giveaways Facebook live with his partner of 11 years, Cody Rumney, but he had just nodded off before the winner was revealed.
“I woke up to my fiance screaming ‘it’s you! It’s you! You’ve won!’ And then the phone rang, it’s really crazy,” said the 34 year old dad of one.
“Cody was in shell shock, she was ringing everyone she knew, screaming, crying. I didn’t know what to do because I had just woke up so I was a bit dazed, I thought ‘surely I’m dreaming here’. It was a nice thing to wake up to.”
“Our luck was in”
Before his big win in December, Alex had scooped a few prizes with Lake District Giveaways in other competitions, like two £20 instant wins on his first entry, and in the Focus RS competition, he was only one number off the winning ticket.
Admitting he was a little scared to spend the money extravagantly, the following day Alex and Cody instead went to Penrith’s Argos, where they bought £250 worth of toys for the Mission Christmas appeal by Cash For Kids, which donates toys to children who could wake up without gifts on Christmas Day. Lake District Giveaways were so taken aback by the gesture that we matched Alex and Cody’s donation.
“When you have a kid, you think ‘what if they were to wake up with nothing’. It’s that time of year, you always feel a bit more generous with Christmas anyway, but when you have kids you see things a bit differently. That money is there for nothing, that would probably make a big thing for someone. Our luck was in that day and we thought we’d give someone else a bit of luck,” said Alex, who is originally from Alston.
“Changed our lives”
Alex said he opted for the cash alternative over the car as he has a company van, and he felt the money would go further, so he treated family over Christmas, bought a new air fryer, sofa set and re-roofed the conservatory, saying he felt he was one of the more “boring winners”.
“I’d rather have a couple of years of not having to worry about the next pay day or if my daughter wants something, I can go and get it and not think about it,” he said.
“It’s definitely changed our lives as in we don’t have to buy something and think about the consequences so much, so it’s been a quite nice relief from that.”
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