THERE was an extra special birthday surprise for a great granddad from the town after scooping £500,000 weeks before his 80th.

Denis Wheat, from Lymm, won the top Thunderball prize and now plans to buy a new car as well as treats for wife Barbara, aged 76 and their three children, eight grandchildren and five great grandchildren.

The couple, who previously worked on Warburton Toll Bridge in Lymm and a fish and chip shop and have been married for 57 years, said they always keep the same numbers including birth dates of family members.

Read more in tomorrow’s Warrington Guardian.