Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

‘What are the chances of that?’: Buckie woman strikes gold three times in a matter of minutes

Barbara Cormack was enjoying a night at the bingo with her husband when she got a very exciting phone call.

Barbara Cormack can't believe her luck after winning big - twice - at the weekend. Image: Darrell Benns/DC Thomson
Barbara Cormack can't believe her luck after winning big - twice - at the weekend. Image: Darrell Benns/DC Thomson

A Buckie woman has described the moment she landed not one, but two, huge cash prizes in the same night.

Barbara Cormack won almost £40,000 in two different competitions on the same day.

Mrs Cormack was at the bingo with her husband when she got the first call from Bounty Competitions, announcing that she had won the choice of a Land Rover Discovery or £30,000 in cash, as well as £300 Amazon vouchers.

Still reeling from the big win, she returned to her bingo – scooping up more than £7,000 in £1 Link game.

‘We are quite lucky’

Mrs Cormack, 66, described herself as “quite lucky” but admitted Saturday was “unbelievable”

She said: “My husband Charlie and I went as normal to our local bingo on Saturday. We go two or three times a week, it is just five minutes along the road.

“It is great fun and we have lots of friends there.

“We are quite lucky. The most I have ever won before is £1,000.”

After playing bingo for the first half of her night at Carlton Bingo, Mrs Cormack noticed that her mobile phone was ringing and vibrating from a number she did not recognise.

She said: “I said to Charlie my husband are we waiting on a delivery? The number stopped and then kept ringing back.

“Charlie took over marking my card and I stepped outside to answer it. I thought it was going to be a scam.

Barbara and Charlie Cormack are still deciding what they’ll spend the winnings on – but it could help with their DIY projects at home in Buckie. Image: Darrell Benns/DC Thomson

“It was Bounty Competitions to say I had won £300 in Amazon vouchers. I was thrilled to bits. They asked me what the most I had ever won on the bingo.

“Then they said ‘have you ever won a Land Rover Discovery or £30,000 in cash?’

“I said ‘no’, and they said ‘well you have now’. ”

She said that for a 99p entry, she had won the vouchers and the star prize as well.

“I could not believe it,” she continued.

“They asked me what I would like to have, and I chose the cash.”

The couple have a two-year-old car they love, a Peugeot 3008, so decided the cash would be better for them – particularly as they are currently doing some work to their home.

“At the time when I won, I really just did not know what to think, I could not take it in,” Mrs Cormack said. “I went back and told my husband and I told the people on the next table – they were all congratulating us.

“Just before the bingo started up again we played one of the £1 live games on the table. It is the one where you link up with all the bingo halls over the country.

‘What are the chances?’

“I wasn’t really paying attention, I was not concentrating as I was thinking about my win from before.”

She continued: “I was down to two numbers, which is quite remarkable, but I was still thinking about the other win. That’s when the last number came out – and I won £7,688.

“What are the chances of that?”

She said: “People in the hall then started getting notifications that I had won the Bounty prize as well and they were all saying it was unbelievable. And it was, I could not take it in.

“In a matter of minutes I had won nearly £40,000.”

Mrs Cormack has stayed on after retirement age to keep a outreach post office open  at Portgordon Bowling Club three mornings a week.

She says she loves her job as it allows her to get out to meet people, as well as serving the community.

Asked what she would spend the money on, she said: “Good question.

“I think my boys – Terry, Neall and  Fraser – would have preferred the car.

“I would love to have my wet room upgraded, but we will see.”

Conversation