Charmaine Watson, 31, won £2.3 Million on the UK Lotto six years ago. And now it turns out she used some of that money to help fund an anti-bullying rock musical that opens in London in October.
A victim of ongoing bullying when she was at secondary school Charmaine knows all too well the misery it can make of young lives. Charmaine says she was picked on almost daily for 5 years, with everything from her weight to living in a council house being used against her. It destroyed her confidence and took her years to recover. So it’s a cause that’s very close to her heart:
I’m really hoping that this will change some of the lives in the audience. If one child watches it and feels able to tell their parents or teachers about bullying, this will be the best lottery money I could ever have spent.
The new show called Stand Tall features the directing talents of Simon Greiff – responsible for the huge musical hit We Will Rock You.
But the show comes from the same modest origins as Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Joseph, which began as a show with a positive message put on for schools. And like Joseph, if successful in London, Stand Tall is likely to travel the world.
Charmaine says her big lottery win has not really sunk in even now – 6 years on. But she is extremely grateful to her Grandad for the win. He bought her a lottery ticket every Wednesday from her 16th birthday. And one day the phone call came, at 5am in the morning to say those numbers had come up!
Look out for Charmaine at the premiere of Stand Tall next month.
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