Lottery millionaires Arthur and Jacki Wright

by Rachel Hovenden

rhovenden@thekmgroup.co.uk

A man who won £3 million on the lottery is now working as a school caretaker.

Former GlaxoSmithKline Dartford worker Arthur Wright , 51, and wife Jackie, won £2.9 million in 2008.

Arthur quit his job at the pharmaceutical company but has now started working as a caretaker at a local school to keep himself occupied.

He said: "We would like to think we are level-headed people and are not taking part in the champagne lifestyle.

"But I don't want to be naive either - that sort of money does change people, of course."

He and Jackie joined fellow millionaires at an exclusive gathering at the Alexander House Hotel in East Grinstead to mark the creation of the 310th lottery millionaire in the South East since it began.

More than 20 winners attended the lunch with their combined winning equalling about £56 million.

Also there were Marilyn and Ted Newton (pictured left).
The Newton Family, of Fort Road, Dartford, won nearly £8 million in the National Lottery two years ago.

Ted, 71, was head of his five-strong family syndicate. He doesn't believe the cash - they each got £1,597,134.40 - has changed him.

He said: "If anything we are doing more things, seeing more places because our finances are a lot easier.

"I had always wanted to go to Norway to see the Northern Lights and we've managed to do that now."

They never moved from their home in Dartford because it was convenient and close to friends.

The family has also donated about £20,000 to the charity Mountain Rescue, whose volunteers rescued Ted's son Stephen when he was involved in a mountaineering accident more than 12 years ago.

The builder was buried for 16 hours under a wall of snow after an avalanche at Aonach More in the Ben Nevis mountain range in December 1998. The accident killed four of his friends.