Launched in a blaze of publicity ten years ago, the National Lottery promised that "It Could Be You". On its official tenth birthday, ROSSLYN SNOW finds out who the real winners have been.

THE odds of winning the National Lottery jackpot were said to be the same as a UFO piloted by Elvis Presley crashing into the Loch Ness Monster.

Despite this 14 million-to-one calculation by bookmaker William Hill on the eve of the first National Lottery Draw on November 19, 1994, millions of people happily paid their £1 to take part.

York man Kenny Southwell was one of seven people to scoop £829,254 that night, vowing that his win would not change his life.

True to his word, the 45-year-old former satellite engineer still lives near York, still works, and describes himself as an "ordinary man" whose main focus now is his family.

Kenny said: "So much has happened in the past ten years, so many things that have been so much more important.

"All you need in your life is love and happiness, if you've got those you don't need money.

"I've always known that, that's how I am."

Other lucky local winners include Debbie Sawyer, who discovered that her work syndicate had won more than £880,000 while she was at her wedding reception in August, 1998.

This year Debbie spent the last of her £44,000 lottery cash on a dream family holiday to Disney World in Florida and said it marked the end of a "wonderful time".

Debbie, 43, of Yearsley Grove, said: "The nicest thing was being able to treat our family and friends in a way that we hadn't been able to before.

"I didn't want to put it away for a rainy day, I wanted us to enjoy it and I really think that we have.

"Apart from the children, it was the most unbelievable thing that has ever happened to me."

Cynthia Taylor, 64, of Boroughbridge scooped £3, 272,499 in 1997, prompting her and her husband, Basil, to both quit their jobs at Dishforth airfield.

Today, Cynthia lives in a four-bedroom home in Langthorpe, and says she is glad her husband enjoyed some retirement before he died last year.

She said: "I've still got all my old friends, I still play darts in a team and pool but now we are really comfortably off.

"As my husband said, he had some retirement that he wouldn't have had without the win, that is something we were very grateful for."

Other local winners have included a 13-strong syndicate from The 10 O'Clock Shop in Poppleton Road, York, who each received more than £167,000 after matching six numbers in October, 1997.

A three-strong syndicate from the Groves Working Men's Club in Penley's Grove Street won £76,000 after matching five numbers and the bonus ball in December, 2001.

In March, 2002, Colin and Jackie Darbyshire, formerly of Sherburn-in-Elmet, scooped £1.5 million.

And in December last year married couple Alex and John Dyer, stewards of the Knaresborough Working Men's Club, won nearly £6 million in a Lotto Extra draw.

Nine workers at Europower Hydraulics in Market Weighton, East Yorkshire, shared more than £7 million when they picked the winning numbers for a double rollover draw in March this year.

Sadly, one York punter missed out on a £200,000 prize after failing to claim the winnings by the deadline earlier this year.

The National Lottery has given away £23.3 billion in prizes and created more than 1,700 millionaires or multi-millionaires since its launch in 1994.

But it is not all about individuals winning. To date, over £16 billion has been raised for Good Causes, benefiting more than 180,000 individual projects across the UK. In York, funding totalling £36.8million has been granted, spread between 484 projects.

This includes £3.8million for the arts, £9.9million for charities, £13.9million for heritage, £2.1million for the Millennium, £2.3million for sports and £4.7million for health, education and the environment. A total of £34 million has also been granted to projects in North Yorkshire. In the East Riding of Yorkshire, £7,643,100 has been awarded to heritage projects alone.

Updated: 10:10 Saturday, November 06, 2004