A FAMILY has been given its best ever Christmas present - a £500,000 win on the National Lottery.

Champion chicken breeder Andrew Waterworth, his wife Muriel and their three children watched in disbelief as their numbers came up in last Saturday's draw.

The Leigh family - who buy their tickets from the same shop every week - netted £530,000. They shared the jackpot of more than £4 million with seven other winners.

Andrew, aged 59 and Muriel, aged 57, live within 500 yards of their children, Debra, Jason and Andrew in the Plank Lane area of Leigh.

It is the first big win they have had in 11 years of playing on the lottery.

Muriel said: "When the numbers rolled up, I shouted 'I'm up'. Andrew said 'don't be daft'.

"He didn't believe me. It was such a shock.

"We just kept looking at each other and laughing, then went round to Jason's to check the numbers again because our teletext wasn't working."

Now they are planning a bumper Christmas to celebrate - and intend to use a chunk of the cash to pay off their mortgages.

Andrew is a champion chicken breeder in his spare time and works as a labourer at the Taylor Business Park at Culcheth.

He keeps his collection of Leghorns and Silkies chickens on an allotment.and has won an array of prizes from poultry shows nationwide.

He said: "The windfall means we can look forward to some security in our retirement in a couple of years' time. It means one or two chickens get a reprieve."

The couple's daughter Debra Hampton, aged 40, is a community mental health team manager with Greater Manchester Mental Health Trust. She said her two children, aged 13 and 11, have already chosen a sports car for her.

Debra's brothers Jason, a 35-year-old gardener, and Andrew, 32, a service engineer, are also planning super family Christmas celebrations.

"We might be having goose instead of turkey this year," said Jason.

The delighted family were handed a cheque by lottery chiefs yesterday at the Marriot Hotel and Country Club at Worsley.

Their winning numbers were 7,11,15, 21, 35 and 47.

The winning line was one of five the family has been placing twice a week for the past 11 years and was bought from Cannings newsagents in Leigh.

To date three jackpot winners have bought tickets there and prize money has totalled more than £11.5 million.

The first big lottery winner in Leigh was Ken White, who scooped more than £6 million when he hit the jackpot with a ticket he bought at Cannings.

Then last year Leigh great-grandmother Eileen Williams collected a £2.3m prize just days after retiring from her job as a care assistant.

Shop owner, Sue Canning, said: "It's great for Leigh. We have now had three jackpot winners and a five-balls-anda-bonus winner. What are the odds of that?

"We must be doing something right. A lot of people buy their tickets here because they think we are a lucky shop - and we've got the sales right.

"It's just a pity our own syndicate can't pull off a big win."