Lucky Canvey residents celebrate £17.1M lottery winnings

The historic £17.1m prize was distributed to lottery winners this morning, with hundreds of residents pouring into Canvey's Castle View School to collect gold envelopes containing their cash amount.

Winner, Felix Ndiweni, had purchased three tickets and won a staggering £39,915, buying the tickets on a whim.

Winner - Felix Ndiweni (Image: Newsquest)

Felix said: "I want to go out for a nice dinner tonight and sit back with a glass of red, it's a great amount and with Christmas soon, I want to clear my debts- bring on 2024.

"I have lived for 18 years on Canvey and took a gap to be in Johannesburg, but I came back to Canvey after staying in London and working a government role in Waltham Cross."

Felix added that he has yet to reveal the amount he has won to this partner, as "she finishes at 8pm and I want to make it special how I reveal it to her, we are going out to dinner tonight, she always does, but she is going to treat me well when she finds out."

Kash Lenette won £13,504 with wife Heather, returning to the postcode lottery after seeing  a post made by The Echo on social media.

Winners - Kash and Heather Lenette (Image: Newsquest)

Kash said: "This is amazing for Canvey, we are such a close community here and our plans for the money are to save it away, use it towards Christmas. We are both self employed and the amount is just amazing, it really helps."

"It's such a great thing for the people on Canvey really, not everyone has won but it's really brought people out here and together."

Kash added that he would be buying a new pair of shorts with the money too - the only purchase that was definite.

Sue Rowley, 74, won £13,504 from the lottery.

Sue said: "Now I have no idea what we are going to do with all this money, it is just brilliant, it's just spectacular, it is the greatest Christmas gift."