Real life: Angie bought a Ferrari, Penny got a Roller, Beverly and

0 Comments | Sunday Mirror, Mar 3, 2002 | by ADRIAN TROUGHTON MAIN

Shirley Garbutt won just under pounds 2million on the Lottery last year and has been so careful with her winnings that she now has...oh, just under pounds 2million left.

It could have been you, and you might have other ideas of how you'd spend a jackpot. But there was no spend, spend, spend for Shirley. More like scrimp, scrimp, scrimp.

Shirley, 40, and her husband Bob, 53, celebrated the win with a cup of tea and a free prawn sandwich courtesy of Camelot.

The next night they bought drinks for friends at their local pub in Bedale, North Yorkshire. The bill was pounds 20.

And when it came to splashing out on a new car it was nothing flash for taxi driver Shirley - just a P-reg Rover 420 costing pounds 4,000.

"My old car was on its last legs and I wanted a diesel because they are great on fuel consumption," says Shirley. "A Mercedes would just not be me - or my customers."

Yes, even though financial advisors told Shirley that the interest alone on her win would give her pounds 1,400 a week, she hasn't given up her day job and takes just pounds 250 a week.

"I'm a Yorkshire lass who is careful with her brass and proud of it. You only have to look at what has happened to other Lottery winners to see what throwing money about for the sake of it can do. I don't want the fact that I have nearly pounds 2million to change the person I am."

The only big purchase the couple have made is a house - a pounds 150,000, four- bedroom detached property half a mile from their old three-bedroom semi. And that's gone up in value.

"It was a showhouse so we saved by already having the place nicely decorated with all the carpets and curtains already fitted. We paid pounds 13,000 for a conservatory, but Bob built the patio to save a bit. I reckon the house is now worth pounds 180,000 so we've already made pounds 17,000."

Shirley still does all her own housework - with a little help from 14-year-old daughter Beverley who has seen her pocket money rise from pounds 2 to...pounds 5 a week.

"We've put pounds 250,000 into a trust fund for when she's older. But I want her to know the value of money and what it is like to have to earn your own, so she still does chores. There's no way she's going to turn into some rich, spoilt brat."

In a rare moment of weakness Shirley did buy Beverley some Nike trainers - but only because they were a bargain pounds 22 in a shop they visited while on holiday in Spain.

Ah...that holiday. Did they hire a mountain-top villa with private spa and beach? Nah. "We could go to the Bahamas, but we love our two- star hotel in Benalmadena on the Costa del Sol, so we went back," says Shirley. "We've been going for a few years and know some of the ex-pats. It's nice to have a drink in a bar where you know people."

The local jewellery sellers have got to know Shirley too. "On the third day of our week's holiday, one guy wanted pounds 20 each for a fake Armani watch and a fake Gucci watch. I said it was my last day and offered him pounds 6 for the pair. He took it but when he saw me the next day he called me an evil woman."

Even at home Shirley refuses to be seduced by expensive trinkets. "I treated myself to a new eternity ring for pounds 19.99 from Argos because I liked it. I don't care what anyone thinks."

And when she gives people lifts in her new taxi, they are still happy to tip. "We are just straight-forward normal folk and they are the same," says Shirley. "They tip me because they always have."

IS SHE MAD? A PSYCHOLOGIST SPEAKS...

Clinical psychologist Ron Bracey, of London, says Shirley is probably being over-cautious because the money represents financial security for life.

"She may have that worry deep in her mind that she should not fritter it away because she will probably never see that kind of money again," he says.

But that's not a bad thing. The Lottery winners who start to live glamorous new lives away from the safe haven of relatives and friends, are the ones who run into psychological and emotional difficulties. Shirley still has that sound base. And Bracey says her happiness and security will probably last a lot longer.