A woman who won a £1milllion prize draw almost missed out on her winnings because she was attending a funeral.

Steph Churchill, 36, scooped up the Omaze monthly Millionaire Draw but she proved hard to track down because she had not provided a phone number.

Mrs Churchill had also only recently changed addresses, making her even more difficult to contact.

Bosses at Omaze had to resort to sending Mrs Churchill multiple emails letting her know the good news.  

But in another twist, Mrs Churchill was then slow to reply to the messages because she was attending a funeral. 

She finally opened the emails on the drive back home in which Mrs Churchill discovered she was now a millionaire.

She said: ‘I’d been travelling back from a funeral so I was totally offline and I missed all the emails.

‘When I finally checked my inbox and saw emails from Omaze sat there, I just ignored them at first as I never imagined I’d actually won something.

Steph Churchill (pictured with her husband Rob), 36, scooped the Omaze monthly Millionaire Draw but she proved hard to track down because she had not provided a phone number

Upon finding out their exciting news, Mrs Churchill said she had to grab hold of her husband Rob Churchill who then gave her a ‘big kiss and massive hug’

‘Then curiosity got the better of me and I opened one of the emails and replied.

‘The Omaze team said I’d won something and they were coming to my house to reveal what it is, problem was I’ve recently moved and hadn’t updated my address, so they had to dash from my old house to tell me the good news, fortunately I’d only moved half an hour away.’

Upon finding out their exciting news, Mrs Churchill said she had to grab hold of her husband – Rob Churchill – after she nearly collapsed out of shock, who then gave her a ‘big kiss and massive hug’.

Mr and Mrs Churchill then kicked off their celebrations in style –  by enjoying champagne straight from the bottle in a car park.

Mrs Churchill continued: ‘They’d given us a bottle of fizz but no glasses, but that wasn’t going to stop me celebrating, so I just drank it straight from the bottle, I felt like a teenager on a park bench but couldn’t care less! Rob was driving so he stuck to fizzy water.

‘We were trying to get our heads around what had just happened, so I was ringing mates as I thought telling people would make it more real. I was shouting down the phone, ‘I’ve just won a million pounds’ and they just thought I was playing an early April Fools on them.’

While Mrs Churchill spent the morning after the win calling friends and slowly coming to terms with their new financial reality, Mr Churchill simply got up and went to work as normal.

She said: ‘This win is obviously transformational, but it won’t change who we are as people, Rob still got up at 7am and headed to work the day after we found out!

Mr and Mrs Churchill kicked off their celebrations in style by enjoying champagne straight from the bottle in a car park

‘We’ll both keep working as we love our jobs, but all the pressure is off and we can just focus on enjoying life and helping our friends and family.

‘We can clear our mortgage, travel the world and do all the things we’ve always talked about. It feels like I can relive my 20s, but this time with an unbelievable budget.’

The couple, who are originally from Bolton but now living in Hampshire, have already booked a ski trip to France with bigger adventures to Japan and Australia now firmly on the cards. 

They also plan to rescue more dogs and are now able to explore starting a family. But top of the shopping list is a hot tub for the garden.

She added: ‘We have always talked about doing the garden up, and now we can do that comfortably and will definitely be adding a hot tub as we can afford the extravagance now!

‘This win is not just going to change our lives, it is going to change the lives of the people around us too. We will be able to support our friends and family in a way we never could before, and that is one of the best feelings of all.’

Omaze founder and CEO Matt Pohlson said: ‘We’re absolutely delighted for Steph and Rob. Ski trips, dream holidays, rescuing more dogs and helping the people they love – it’s fantastic to see so many brilliant plans already taking shape, and everyone at Omaze is thrilled for their future.

‘Omaze gives people the chance to win life-changing prizes, while also raising significant funds for incredible causes. Thanks to the generosity of the Omaze community, we’ve now raised over £100 million for good causes across the UK.’

As well as the monthly millionaire draw, other lucky winners of Omaze winning multi-million pound homes include Simon Mawdsley, 41, who recently bagged a £4million Cornish house. 

Mr Mawdsley said he was swapping out the dining table for green baize after winning the house in an Omaze draw.

But he admitted his wife Riza, 35, ‘might need a bit of persuading’ before coming round to the idea of Simon’s ‘mini Crucible’.

He bought his winning prize draw entry for £15 and had been entering for more than two years. 

His new house on the Cornish coast came with all stamp duty and legal fees covered, alongside £160,000 worth of furnishings and £250,000 in cash. 

On what he plans to do with his new luxury seaside pad, Mr Mawdsley said he was planning on enjoying ‘a big family holiday’ this summer.