Former player Kenneth James wins £1900 on Forres Mechanics Lottery
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AN 89-year-old former Forres Mechanics player has won nearly £2000 on the club’s lottery.
Kenneth James, of Grant Place, was thrilled to hear from a neighbour that he had scooped £1900.
However, he did not keep the windfall for long, choosing to give the full amount away to his family.
He said: “My next door neighbour told me I’d won when he saw it on social media. I felt elated!
“I gave it all to my grandchildren.”
Mr James, originally from Bridgenorth, Shropshire, first moved to Moray as aircrew at RAF Kinloss.
He said: “I came up here on the Neptunes in 1954. I trained with Mechanics alongside Bobby Kinloch and I followed the team until I left in 1957. It’s great to have a local club to support and encourage local children to get involved in the game.”
Bobby Kinloch went on to star for bigger clubs including Hibs, Raith Rovers and Dunfermline Athletic. He also served the RAF for his National Service.
Mr James returned to Forres for good in 1974 and has been playing the Cans Fans’ Lotto since it started.
The lottery is drawn every week and starts with a prize of £1000. Each member has four numbers and if drawn, the prize is won. If not, it rolls over to the next week and increases by £100. This continues until the prize is won when it then returns to £1000.
If four winning numbers are never drawn, the prize rolls over to a maximum of £3000 where a winner is drawn, as in a raffle, and the prize returns to £1000. There are also four raffle prizes drawn every week, one of £100, one of £50 and two of £25.
“I won £25 around 18 months ago,” said Mr James. “But I look forward to my next big win. You have to be in it to win it!”
Mechanics committee member George Alexander was pleased to see someone who has supported the lotto from its beginnings win it.
He said: “Four winning numbers being drawn does not happen often. It could not go to a better man.”
