Midwife continues labour of love after lottery win

Ruth Breen continues to deliver babies despite winning £1m in 2014

A midwife who won the lottery a decade ago has said she continued to work to be an example for her daughter.

Ruth Breen, 45, found out she had won £1m on the EuroMillions while checking her emails during her lunch break at the Royal Albert Edward Infirmary in Wigan in 2014.

She is marking the 10th anniversary of her win by supporting the town's The Baby Room initiative for those in need of essential items.

Ms Breen said: "We all know there's a cost-of-living crisis that's been going on for quite some time and babies don't come cheap."

Ms Breen (second from right) is supporting The Baby Room scheme in Wigan

Alison Wakefield, who set up the community interest company in 2022 after having her youngest child, said: "Without our support we'd have babies that were sleeping on the floor, they wouldn't have a safe space to sleep - we'd have them sleeping in drawers, we'd have babies using nappies more than once.

"It's an essential service that is definitely needed. Without us, people would be going without and babies would be going without."

Since her lottery win, Ms Breen has gone part-time and enjoyed "great holidays" to Dubai and Mauritius.

She said: "The win came at the most perfect time ever. It allowed me to reduce my working hours, giving me a much better work-life balance."

Ms Breen celebrated her win at Wigan Athletic's ground in 2014

She said she could "spend much more time with my daughter doing fun mum things instead of working flat out for a really, really busy service".

"We've had great holidays, but we've tried to keep our feet on the ground and I think working really helps me to do that."

Ms Breen still lives in the house she bought before her win and recalls how her first purchase after the lottery win was a pair of Jimmy Choo shoes.

"I nearly cried when I was paying for them in Selfridges because I couldn't believe I was actually able to purchase this and I had the money to do it."