Someone in Bolton won a whopping £1 million on the EuroMillions back in November, and still and hasn’t claimed the money yet.
Believe it or not, there’s a mystery millionaire knocking around Greater Manchester right now.
For anyone who regularly plays the lottery, or likes to grab themself a ticket every now and then when they’re feeling particularly lucky, it may seem absolutely wild to think that someone could have bought a EuroMillions ticket more than four months ago now, and hasn’t even realised that their lives could have potentially changed forever.
Even more shocking still, not only do they not realise they’ve won, they still haven’t claimed their winnings either, so the money is just lying there unclaimed as we speak.
But that’s exactly the case for one lucky Bolton resident.
According to The National Lottery, there was a whopping 10 cash prizes still unclaimed at the start of the 2024, and now, another handful have been added to that list – with a total of six £1 million unclaimed tickets from as early as September last year.
Doncaster, Northumberland, Redditch, and Camden are just a few of the other UK areas where unclaimed lottery tickets have been purchased over the last couple of months.
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Not only that, as well as the £1m lucky Bolton winner, someone from Manchester has also bagged themselves a life-changing win in the ‘Set For Life’ draw, which means they’ll be taking home £10,000 every month for a whole year.
And, to make matters even more urgent, if the National Lottery does not receive a valid claim for these tickets within 180 days of he draw date, the prize cannot be claimed.
Someone in Bolton has won £1m on the EuroMillions and still hasn’t claimed the money / Credit: Pxhere
Any interest on the winnings will also go towards National Lottery Projects across the UK.
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The £1 million-winning ticket in Bolton was part of the 3 November 2023 EuroMillions draw – with the draw number being 1682 – which means the winner has until 1 March 2024 to claim their winnings, while the Manchester ‘Set For Life’ ticket was drawn on 5 February 2024, leaving those winners until 3 August 2024 to claim the money that’ll make a real difference to their lives.
To find out the winning numbers for both the EuroMillions and ‘Set For Life’ draws, head to the Unclaimed Prizes section of the National Lottery website here.
It could, genuinely, be your lucky day.
Featured Image – Wikimedia Commons
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Greater Manchester officially launches five-year climate change action plan
Danny Jones
Greater Manchester has officially begun its five-year climate change action plan, with the overarching goal of becoming a net-zero city region by 2038.
The comprehensive pledge put together over a number of years itself will see Manchester City Council and the nearby local authorities put into action a number of key measures that will help to reduce not only central carbon figures but, eventually, across the 10 boroughs in turn.
Over the last 15 years, emissions have been reduced by approximately 64%, saving an estimated 44,344 tonnes of carbon through cleaner building energy, street lighting and other electronics, as well as the increasingly green and over-growing Bee Network.
They have also insisted that it isn’t just about cutting down on greenhouse gases; the aim is to make the city region and the surrounding areas more sustainable, affordable and create a better standard of life.
Our five-year plan to tackle climate change launches today. 🌏
It details how we’ll continue to deliver dramatic reductions in the amount of carbon we emit (the biggest contributor to climate change). 🏙️
As per the summary on the Council website, in addition to creating more efficient homes, they’re hoping to provide more access to nature and good-quality green space, “public transport you can rely on”, and “better health and wellbeing for those who live, work, study and visit here.”
With a steadily recovering local and national economy (touch wood), they’re also hoping for an influx of new jobs, too.
Summarising the key bullet points leading up to the end of the decade, these are the next steps currently outlined by the Council:
Lower carbon emissions
Grow the use of renewable energy
Improve low-carbon travel in the city
Improve air quality
Grow the city’s natural environment and boost biodiversity
Improve resilience to flooding and extreme heat
Engage and involve our workforce and our city’s communities
Reduce waste and grow reuse, repair, sharing and recycling
Support a move to a more circular economy
Minimise the negative impact of events held in the city
Develop our knowledge of our indirect emissions and lower them
Create a green financing strategy and explore new funding models for the city
Influence the environmental practices of other organisations
As for emissions, the target is now to drop the present output by another 34%, which will prevent almost 43,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO₂) from being pumped into the atmosphere.
Having touched upon the continued expansion of the Bee Network infrastructure, Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) is also set to install multiple new travel links over the coming years, including both new tram stops and train stations – further
You can read the climate action plan in full HERE.
Manchester’s firework displays are ‘back with a bang’ as they return from 2026
Emily Sergeant
Council-organised firework displays in Manchester’s parks are set to return from next year, it has been confirmed.
You may remember that these once-popular events have not been held since 2019, as the COVID-19 pandemic initially prevented them from taking place from 2020 onwards, and then following that, they remained paused on a trial basis while the Manchester City Council sought to ‘reprioritise funding’ to support a wider range of free community events across the city.
But now, as it seems, the door was never shut on their potential return.
An ‘improved financial position’ now means that the Council is in a position to bring firework events back, while also still continuing to support other community events.
Papers setting out the Council’s financial position show that fairer funding being introduced by the Government next year will leave the Council better off than previously anticipated, he the reason firework displays have been brought back into the mix.
The Council has admitted that ‘pressures remain’ after so many years of financial cuts, but this new funding creates the opportunity to invest in the things residents have said matter the most to them.
“Manchester prides itself on free community events and we know many people have missed Bonfire night firework spectaculars,” commented Cllr Bev Craig, who is the Leader of Manchester City Council.
“That’s why we are pleased to confirm they’ll be back by popular demand in 2026.
“We know that generations of Mancunians have enjoyed Council-organised displays and that free family events are a great way to bring people together… [and] now that this Government is actually investing in Councils like ours rather than the cuts we had since 2010, we can bring back Bonfire events.”
Emily Sergeant -
12th March 2024 
