A Newcastle grandmother who won £2.7M on the National Lottery joined other millionaires in taking part in a charity beach clean.
Elaine Thompson and her husband Derek won the life-changing sum on the Lotto in 1995 and have spent the years since devoting their time to helping others. And now the generous couple have taken part in their latest charitable initiative - cleaning Sandsend Beach in Whitby for The 2 Minute Foundation.
The pair were joined by other millionaires from across the North East and Yorkshire who scooped huge wins on the National Lottery. The group, who have a combined wealth of almost £25 million, spent time picking up litter and plastic from the beach which can be devastating to marine animals.
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“Since winning the lottery Derek and I have loved being able to give time back," Elaine said.
"One of the great things about winning is this buys you time to support such great causes like The 2 Minute Foundation.
“As grandparents, we often visit the seaside and love coming to the beach. It has been wonderful working with The 2 Minute Foundation on this project – learning and actually doing something positive for the local environment and for the benefit of local people at the same time.”
The 2 Minute Foundation aims to get people involved in cleaning up our planet, two minutes at a time. The charity received £19,410 of National Lottery funding in 2018 and 2019 to help with its education programme.
Claire Giner, from The 2 Minute Foundation, said: “It was a successful morning and we have really enjoyed working with the local National Lottery winners to help make a difference to this stretch of important coastline. The 2 Minute Foundation is a registered charity that is devoted to cleaning up our planet for two minutes at a time.
"We believe that simple, achievable acts can add up to make a great difference.”
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