NOSTALGIA: John Menzies lotto rush in 1994
Interest in the National Lottery reached fever pitch in the region this week in 1994, with a last-minute rush by Borderers bidding to become millionaires.
A pool of £22m was up for grabs, including a jackpot pool of £5.8m which saw seven winners get £834,000. And while there were no major winners in the Borders, it wasn’t for the want of trying. Manager of the Galashiels branch of John Menzies, Hilton Ruddick, admitted his staff in Channel Street struggled to cope with the queues of people trying to buy tickets. The shop sold 1,568 ticket on Friday and 2,222 more the next day. Borderers, pictured queuing along the street at the store, collected more than £700 in prize money between them.