Kelso lottery syndicate celebrating after landing £1m payout to share

Bright sparks at a Kelso electronics firm are celebrating after landing a £1m National Lottery payout to share between them.
Members of a National Lottery syndicate at Kelso firm Icom-Scottech are now sharing a £1m win 19 ways.Members of a National Lottery syndicate at Kelso firm Icom-Scottech are now sharing a £1m win 19 ways.
Members of a National Lottery syndicate at Kelso firm Icom-Scottech are now sharing a £1m win 19 ways.

A syndicate of staff at Icom-Scottech’s Sprouston Road factory will split that win 19 ways after getting five main numbers and the bonus ball right for the Lotto draw on Saturday, July 6.

That means they will take home more than £52,600 each, but because so many of the electronic component and circuit-board manufacturer’s workforce are related, sharing their winnings will end up being a family affair for four different families.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

John Scott, founder of the business in 1994, and his wife Kathy, plus daughter Julie and son Steven, are all individual members of the syndicate and have each won £52,631, adding up to £210,524 between them.

Members of a National Lottery syndicate at Kelso firm Icom-Scottech are now sharing a £1m win 19 ways.Members of a National Lottery syndicate at Kelso firm Icom-Scottech are now sharing a £1m win 19 ways.
Members of a National Lottery syndicate at Kelso firm Icom-Scottech are now sharing a £1m win 19 ways.

The lucky ticket’s purchaser, Carole Colebrook, and her sister Shirley Hogarth are also now in the money, as are managing director Lee Jackson and his brother-in-law Adam Davis, brothers-in-law Alistair Renton and Jim Blain, their nephew Alex Dagg and Jim’s cousin Marion Brotherton.

The syndicate has been buying weekly tickets for over 20 years, and its members are already planning what they would like to spend their winnings on, with new cars, exotic holidays, home renovations and, naturally enough, family celebrations being near the top of the list.

The 19 members of the Icom-Scottech syndicate now better off are Lee Jackson, 41; Carole Anne Colebrook, 52; Julie Dunkley, 49; Marion Stewart Wood, 53; Katrine Hope, 53; Diane Robertson, 52; Alistair Renton, 52; Adam Davis, 39; John Mitchell, 35; Shirley Hogarth, 56; Kareen Renton, 58; Marion Brotherston, 58; Alex Dagg, 29; Deborah Canning, 49; Evelyn Triebel, 61; James Blain, 65; Steven Scott, 45; Katherine Scott, 72; and John Scott, 75, and they announced their good fortune at a champagne celebration at Kelso’s Ednam House Hotel today, July 16.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Syndicate leader Lee said: “Our colleague Carol came running into the office on the Monday morning clutching our ticket and nearly threw it at me.

“After sharing the news with her sister, she had slept with it under her pillow to keep it safe.

“It was a very emotional moment for everyone, and when we gathered the team together, you could tell people were worried what we were going to announce.

“However, when we broke the news, they blew the roof off with cheers.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“We are a very family-orientated business, so it’s fantastic to share this with our friends and loved ones.

“Being a small town, news travels fast, but everyone is over the moon for us.

“Our next-door neighbour here is a car dealership, and the manager has already paid us a visit with some business cards. He may well get some sales out of this!”

Lee felt an overwhelming sense of relief when he heard the news, he said, as he is getting married in a few months’ time, and the win now means they can plan the big day of their dreams.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“Everyone planning a wedding has the stresses and worries of how they are going to pay for everything, but that has now disappeared for us,” he said.

“We are now planning on a honeymoon in Cyprus, where we want to volunteer with a dog sanctuary there.”

The syndicate bought its winning Lotto ticket at Asda in Galashiels, and its lucky numbers were 24, 30, 44, 50, 56, 57 and bonus ball nine.