Who Won The Cheshire House?

Ian Garrick from Lincolnshire is our Cheshire Draw Grand Prize Winner. Ian has won a Million Pound House in Cheshire and £10,000 in cash to help him settle in. And that’s not all. By entering the draw, he helped to raise a fantastic £250,000 to support Teenage Cancer Trust. This is the first instalment in our guarantee to raise £1,000,000 for the charity over the next three years. We caught up with Ian to find out how it feels to win big and give back.

Watch The Magic

Watch Ian's reaction as we tell him the news that he's won our Grand Prize.

How does it feel to win the Million Pound House in Cheshire?

I’m completely overwhelmed. I can’t get my head around it. It will take some time to sink in. Things like this just don’t happen. I’m in shock. I’m still taking it all in at the moment.

What did you do when you heard you’d won?

When I received the initial phone call saying I’d won something, I thought it must be a car or something like that. Once Omaze arrived and showed me that I'd won the house I was completely overwhelmed. For the last few days I have just been in a state of disbelief. I keep thinking someone is going to wake me up from a coma. Man crying after winning Omaze Million Pound House

What attracted you to the Omaze Million Pound House Draw?

I entered on a whim really. I saw the house on Facebook. It was like it poked its head out of the clouds at me. I thought, “that would be nice. That would really make a difference to me”. And I saw it was supporting a cancer charity, which is personal to me as I lost my wife, Julie, to cancer nearly five years ago. Although Julie died of breast cancer, she did leave teenage sons behind so I linked it that way in my mind. I hadn’t heard of Teenage Cancer Trust before but any cancer charity has my support. I’m sure whatever donation they get they’ll put it to very, very good use.

What will you do with the house? Live in, rent out or sell?

I’m going to sell the house and buy something nearer to where I live. All my friends are in Lincolnshire so I’ll sell it and have a fresh start over here. It’s only me and my youngest son living together at the moment but it will be great to find a place where the whole family can be together, leaving some difficult memories behind and making some positive ones somewhere new.

Can you tell us about the difference this will make to your life?

Since my wife, Julie, passed away we've basically been in limbo, the house has been falling down around us. We've just been trying to hold each other together. If I'm honest, we needed some sort of boost to carry on. My dream when entering the draw was to get away from here for a fresh start and it's happened. I can’t believe it! This is the start of a new future for us and it’s exactly what we need.

If someone was thinking about entering, would you encourage them?

Yes, absolutely! If it highlights a good cause and brings it to people’s attention and gives someone the chance to win a dream prize, I think it’s fantastic! The individual benefits and the charity benefits.