A LOTTERY winner, whose life was transformed by a windfall of more than £2m, has urged others to try their luck by continuing to buy tickets.

Charmaine Watson, 39, netted £2.3 million almost 15 years ago.

At the time, she lived in a rented house as a single mother on benefits, struggling to provide for her baby son Ryan.

Born and raised in Eynsham, she became an overnight millionaire in August 2005 with a lucky ticket that her granddad, Albert Evans, had purchased for her.

Mr Evans had been buying tickets for his granddaughter every Wednesday since her 16th birthday.

Mrs Watson used the same numbers for each ticket - 3, 10, 13, 22, 31, 33 - and eventually struck gold.

She joined other prize winners to celebrate the 25th birthday of the National Lottery at an event in Kent this week, and advised lottery hopefuls to: “Go out, buy a ticket and use your lucky numbers!”

Latest figures show that 55 people from Oxford have won the National Lottery – one every six months.

This makes the OX postcode area one of the nation’s luckiest locations with 25 millionaires since 2014.

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Mrs Watson added: “It has given me the opportunity to buy a house and give my children the life I wanted”.

The winner and her husband, Robert Watson, 49, still live in Eynsham but now have a four bedroom detached house with their three children – Ryan, 15, Georgia,12, and Daniel, 10.

While Mr Watson works full-time as a carpenter, Mrs Watson has focused her time on a number of charitable programmes over the years and has become a key figure in the local community.

She said: “I have a lot to be thankful for.

“It’s important for us to show our children that we still work hard, despite the money”.

Back in 2011, the Mrs Watson donated £20,000 of her prize money to help fund an inspiring rock musical in London that aimed to tackle bullying.

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She became invested in the project as its theme resonated heavily with her own personal experience of being bullied while a pupil at the village's St Bartholomew School.

She added: “I was bullied myself all the way through school.

“I hoped that young people would relate.

“I remember one girl came up to me after the end (of the musical) and thanked me.

"She said it gave her the courage to go home and speak to her parents.”

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Mrs Watson also recently organised a fundraising event at a club in Eynsham where she collected £650 for the Royal British Legion's Poppy Appeal.

She explained: “I like helping and giving back to the village."

Since its launch in 1994, the National Lottery has made 5,500 millionaires across the country and has raised £40 billion for good causes.