A GROUNDED Blackburn couple who have celebrated a £1million lottery win said they have no plans to drastically change their lives.

Mill Hill residents Steve and Melanie Hargreaves, who treated neighbours to a £1,600 bar bill after finding out that they were winners, want to stay put in their ‘friendly’ district that has been home since they were born.

Mechanical engineer Steve, 59, has even continued to commute to Woking where he works after receiving confirmation from Camelot that he had bought the lucky Euromillion ticket and won the £1million raffle prize.

However he admitted the win will allow the pair to properly ‘take control’ of their lives ‘for the first time’.

He now hopes to retire ten years early and realise their plans to visit his daughter, who moved to Australia six years ago, in time for her 35th birthday.

Meanwhile his wife Melanie, 41, wants to continue working part-time as a catering assistant at Witton Park High School.

The lucky ticket was bought from a newsagents in Woking using a combination of his three children’s birthdays.

It is the fourth win over £2,500 for the pair since he started regularly playing Lotto and EuroMillions in 1997.

Steve, 59, who grew up on Montague Street in a two up-two down with five brothers and one sister, said that they had happy memories of the area and would not want to leave the friends they had made.

And despite the win Steve said he will continue to play.

He said: “It has been a god send which will allow us to properly take control of our lives for the first time.

“I couldn’t believe I’d won at first but now it’s sunk in we want to continue to live our lives as normally as possible.

“I don’t have a pension so will try save some of it but I must admit I would like a new car though.

“We’ve had ups and downs in our lives but we both count ourselves as having been lucky and have got lots of friends where we live now.”

Melanie, who met Steve at the Mill Hill Hotel 12 years ago, said: “I’m still gob-smacked now so I think it will take a while to sink in.

“I enjoy where I work so want to stay there and am just glad that we can live more comfortably.