After discovering they had won a £25,476,778.30 EuroMillions jackpot, a syndicate of six catering staff at Neath Port Talbot Hospital celebrated their colossal win by handing in their notice – with the exception of one member who’d retired the year before.

‘The Catering Girls’ have been playing as a work syndicate for the last six years but one member, Louise Ward, only joined in October 2016, and it was her numbers that won the jackpot.

Ultra-organised syndicate leader 56-year-old Julie Saunders asked her husband to go and buy the ticket last Friday as they were all working.

They were visiting her father in a residential home the day after the draw and he told her just one ticket had won the jackpot.

Julie went home and checked the numbers and called Camelot straight away before letting the other members know of their amazing win.

When news started to sink in, they all decided that retiring from work was on the cards.

“I’ve enjoyed working there for many years along with the rest of the syndicate, but now it is someone else’s turn to take on those roles. We will miss many of our colleagues as we have all worked there a long time, but this is the start of something new for us all,” Julie said.

The six syndicate members, who each won £4,246,129.72, include former catering assistant Doreen Thompson from Ystalyfera who has a husband called Nigel, three children, two step-children, lots of grandchildren and wants to go on holiday to Florida.

Other lucky winners include Jean Cairns, who retired from the hospital last year, former catering supervisor Sian Jones and catering assistant Julie Amphlett.

The syndicate began playing together after chatting one Sunday morning when they were feeling lucky – both Jean and Julie felt they would ‘win big’ one day and maybe become a millionaire.

They play every Friday, bought their winning ticket from One Stop, Sandfields, Port Talbot and their winning numbers were 5, 12, 17, 33, 41 and the two lucky stars were 4 and 9.

Julie said: “Dreams really do come true. This win is life-changing for us all and the size of the win is still sinking in.

"We are all so emotional but very, very happy.

“We will celebrate together properly after the excitement has died down but I’m not sure we will carry on playing as a syndicate – it is time to give someone else a chance at winning.”