BY NUALA MCALOON

A Belleek drama teacher who walked around for two weeks with a lottery ticket in her purse, before losing it, then tracking it down again to a petrol station where she had mislaid it on a counter, has scooped a whopping £650,000.

Siobhan O'Brien, familiar to many as the director of Pettigo based drama group, the Borderline Players, got the shock of her life when she finally got round to checking the ticket.

The ticket gave her a share of the Lotto jackpot on Wednesday, 9th January, allowing her to pick up a cheque for £649,657 as one of four jackpot winners to share over £2.5 million.

Siobhan bought her lucky ticket in Rooney's Newsagents in Belleek.

As she sipped a glass of celebratory champagne, Siobhan said she shuddered to think what could well have happened to her purse.

"I was here, there and everywhere with it in my handbag and apart from the petrol station, I had a few other narrow escapes.

"I kept mislaying my handbag when I took a group to a Feis in Dundalk where there were 2,000 competitors in three different rooms, and all the time the ticket was there."

Siobhan lives with husband Tom, a basket-maker who teaches art to students. They have one son, Shane, who this year takes his finals in Law and French at Oxford University.

A native of Belfast, Siobhan, as a student acted with the original Lyric Players and now is casting an eye towards America with the Borderline Players.

She is also a drama teacher in the Erne Special Needs School and at St. Ninnidh's Primary School in Derrylin.

"We have been fund-raising to take the group to perform in America, maybe now I'll be able to pay my own fare," she said. "And since Tom and I met and lived in the States for some years, it would be nice to buy a little holiday place in Florida, now that the prices are coming down over there."

However, on a day-to-day basis, Siobhan says the family have no life-changing plans for spending the money.

"I've been a regular player for years and I won't break the habit this weekend," she said.

"I'll enjoy the excitement, and if I win, I'll be very generous to charity".

She buys two tickets for each of the two weekly Lotto draws, two tickets to play her regular numbers and two 'Lucky Dips'.

It was a 'Lucky Dip' ticket did the trick, for had it been her regular numbers, she would have known immediately that she had won.

"We are delighted with my windfall", Siobhan added. " It's just a perfect amount to win. It should allow us to have no financial worries while still keeping our feet firmly on the ground."