Colin and Chris Weir, from Ayrshire, after revealing themselves as the UK’s biggest ever lottery winners. Photograph: Andrew Milligan/PAWhen you have just discovered that you are as rich as Croesus, a small toast is in order. So, in the early hours of Wednesday, Chris Weir broke the habit of a lifetime and cracked open a bottle of wine.
"I don't even drink, so that shows you how excited we were," said Weir, 55, a former psychiatric nurse, as she and her husband, Colin, 64, revealed themselves as the UK's biggest ever lottery winners with Tuesday's EuroMillions jackpot of ?161m safe in their bank.
Initially, they had not wanted to go public with their win. But they realised that they would have had to tell lies and hide their news from those around them, and they wanted to be able to enjoy the moment and all that it meant. "We are not flashy people," said Chris. "We are not celebrities and we hope that once we have shared our good news we will get some time to go back to being us."
The retired couple from Largs, in Ayrshire, now better off than the Marquess of Bath, and just a few million short of David and Victoria Beckham's vast fortune, said they were still struggling to come to terms with their newfound wealth but were not daunted by it.
"We are not afraid of this," said Chris. "It seems mammoth; it seems absolutely fantastical. When I woke up on Tuesday morning everything was ordinary. I woke up on Wednesday morning and the whole world was totally different for us … We're not scared of it. It's going to be fantastic and it's going to be so much fun."
The Weirs' ?161m prize, the biggest ever in the EuroMillions draw, came after a series of rollovers. The previous biggest winner, also from the UK, scooped ?113m in October and chose to stay anonymous. The prize is 50% more than the amount Scotland collects in taxes every month and equivalent to 0.16% of Scotland's GDP.
Married for 30 years, the Weirs have both suffered from ill-health and appeared in front of the press yesterday at a hotel near Falkirk walking with the aid of sticks. For many years, Colin was a carer for his wife. Their two adult children, Carly, 24, a photography student, and Jamie, 22, who works at a call centre, were also stunned by the win. Unable until now to afford their own cars, both offspring have signed up for driving lessons.
The Weirs plan to buy their children homes, and Chris will replace her Suzuki car. Colin, however, is happy with his old car because it is reliable and he does not see the need for a new one. A keen football fan who follows Barcelona, he may see fit to get a box at the Camp Nou stadium to watch his team play.
They plan to travel. The Great Wall of China, Uluru – formerly Ayers Rock – in Australia, Cambodia and Taiwan are first on their list. They like their three-bedroom villa in Largs with its nice views, so have no immediate plans to move, but would consider a second or maybe even third home.
They realise, said Chris, that their great wealth brings them great responsibility, and plan to use some of the money for good causes. "There are things that we are passionate about but we need to temper that with looking at what is the best way to do the most good," she said. "We need to do that in a measured, planned way. It would be very easy to throw money at people.
"I worked in the public sector all my life and I know what distress people have. I want to do things in a way where the benefit goes to the people who really need it."
Although regular players of the lottery, the Weirs did not watch the lottery programme on Tuesday evening, but Chris checked the numbers at midnight on her way to bed. Out of five lucky dip lines, the fifth was the winner. She checked it numerous times, and Colin did likewise, unable to believe what they were seeing.
"The Camelot line was closed for the evening but we couldn't sleep," said Chris. "We sat up. We were so buzzed. We were so full of adrenaline we couldn't sleep. We couldn't really do anything except sit. We talked to each other about how absolutely amazing this was. We were tickled pink with the whole notion of winning so much money."
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