A JUBILANT group of grandmothers who won £7.5million on the National Lottery last night said it would not change their lives - and revealed they would remain as check-out girls in a Suffolk supermarket.

A JUBILANT group of grandmothers who won £7.5million on the National Lottery last night said it would not change their lives - and revealed they would remain as check-out girls in a Suffolk supermarket.

Five members of the 10-strong syndicate spoke of their “delight and surprise” after winning £750,000 each following Saturday's draw.

But, despite plans to pay off mortgages and take dream holidays, the down-to-earth women, who are all employees at Tesco's Sudbury store, said they would remain loyal to their day jobs.

Mother-of-three Hilary Cox, 61, said: “The whole thing has been very surreal and we all haven't had much sleep. I only found out we had won when I came into work on Monday.

“At first I thought it was some kind of wind-up, like it was April 1. I couldn't believe it until I checked and double-checked and had it verified with the organisers.

“It was very difficult to sit on the tills on Monday and not make mistakes while thinking we might have won £7.5 million.

“At the moment, we have said we will all stay at Tesco, we have no plans to completely ditch and run as we would not want to let anyone down. We will let it sink in and get our feet back on the ground.

“But we couldn't keep it a secret. In a town like Sudbury, word gets out very quickly and that is exactly what happened.”

The 10 winners - five of whom have remained anonymous - had been using the same numbers on the syndicate for nine years, but the most they had won was £64 when they matched four numbers on one occasion.

Avis King, 64, whose six specially-chosen numbers won the jackpot, said: “None of us actually watched the show on Saturday but when someone phoned me on Sunday and said we had won, I couldn't believe it - I thought she just meant £10,

“I was absolutely amazed. I shook from head to toe and felt quite unwell. I couldn't think all day long, I couldn't do anything - I just thought it couldn't be true.

“So many people have come up to us and said it couldn't have happened to a nicer bunch of girls.”

The syndicate, who shared the £15m jackpot with one other lucky ticket holder, also spoke of their delight at the reaction they had received from colleagues and customers alike.

Shelagh Matthews, 56, said: “I think there were people who knew before some of us.

“We all enjoy our job, we have nice customers and it is good working with friends. All our co-workers have been so pleased.”

The celebrating group of five yesterday was completed by Shirley Hall and Brenda Cleverley.

dave.gooderham@eadt.co.uk