Latest news with #JohnDowling
CTV News
a day ago
- Business
- CTV News
‘We're millionaires:' $1 Encore draw turns into $1M for eastern Ontario resident
Saying yes to a $1 Encore pick paid off for eastern Ontario resident John Dowling. The retiree and father of two from Selby, just north of Napanee, matched all seven Encore numbers in the exact order to win the top prize of $1 million in the May 17 Lotto 6/49 draw. 'When I found out I'd won $1 million, I was shocked!' Dowling said while picking up his winnings at the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) Prize Centre in Toronto. Dowling told the OLG he's been playing the lottery for decades, typically playing twice a week. His go-to games are Lotto 6/49 and Lotto Max. The winning ticket was purchased at Petro-Canada on County Road 41 in Napanee. The winning numbers were 7656157. 'The day after the draw, I went to the store to have my ticket validated,' Dowling recalled. 'The cashier scanned my ticket and the lottery terminal froze. I think she was even more excited than I was.' An OLG representative called the store to start the prize claim process. As he was driving home from the store, he saw his wife out for a walk with their dog. 'I lowered my car window and suddenly got overwhelmed — happy tears started streaming down my face. My wife thought something was wrong and came over to me, asking, 'What happened?' I got out of the car, gave her a big hug, and told her, 'We're millionaires,'' he said. He then revealed the news to his two sons. 'When I got home, I asked my son who was there at the time, 'What kind of car do you want?' Then I called my other son and asked him the same question,' Dowling said. Dowling says he plans to share his winnings with his children, buy a new car and invest. Encore offers 22 ways to win and can be played with most lottery games for an extra $1. There are two Encore draws every day. Inverary, Ont. resident wins $100,000 Lottery winner Andy Singh won $100,000 after a lucky Encore draw. (OLG/Provided) A resident of Inverary, Ont., just north of Kingston, took home $100,000 for also saying yes to an Encore draw. Long-time lottery player Andy Singh matched the last six of seven numbers in the exact order in the April 8 Lotto Max draw. 'I went to the gas station to pump gas and purchased a ticket while I was there. That's become a routine for me — buying a ticket when I go for gas,' he told the OLG while visiting the Prize Centre in Toronto to claim his win. About a month after buying his Lotto Max ticket, Singh took a pile of tickets he'd kept in his car to the store to check them. 'I went to the ticket checker and scanned them one by one,' he said. 'When I scanned this one and saw the prize amount on the screen, I was in disbelief. I was so shocked and excited.' Singh says he will pay off bills, invest and take a 'well-deserved' vacation. He also plans to buy a special gift for his wife. 'Being a winner feels unbelievable,' he said. 'You feel like jumping from all the excitement.'
Sunday World
01-07-2025
- Sunday World
Three siblings abandoned by mother in phones boxes in the ‘60s united after DNA tests
'On the car seat was a tartan bag – looking inside she realised there was a baby in it' A trio of siblings who were abandoned as babies in phone boxes and in a car united after nearly half a century thanks to DNA testing. David Boyle, Helen Ward and John Dowling were all found by strangers after being left by their mother for others to look after. It turned out their mother was a Kerry woman who had a long affair with a band leader of Scottish descent. The couple romanced while living in Dublin and not only did the Scottish man father the three siblings, but he also had 11 other known children. 'I grew up in Ashbourne Co Meath. My parents, they had a farm over in Oldtown and my father would travel over and back to the farm every day,' recalls Helen. 'My mum was a housewife. I grew up in a very happy household. My mum and dad told me quite early on I was adopted. I'd say around five. Probably didn't take it in, so to speak, then. I just knew that I was cared for and loved and just 'leave me alone I'm going off to play' 'As I became a teenager the curiosity was escalating and I used to speak with my mum about it and she used always say 'you know Helen, you have a right to know, there's a missing piece of your life there'. John Dowling with a report about him being found 'My dad, on the other hand, was I suppose a man of the times. I think he had a fear in him that if I did go off to look, what I would find? I remember just asking him, 'I really want to know, I want to go on the journey to find out more about who I am' and he just looked at me and he said 'Helen, would you just let sleeping dogs lie'. 'Oh God, I was gutted, absolutely gutted. Then I made a decision, when I had my first daughter, I really felt the need to look for my mum. I felt she had to give her daughter up, what was the reasons behind that, I was looking at my own beautiful daughter and saying, 'she is missing out on her beautiful granddaughter'.' Helen found out she had been abandoned in a phone box in Dundalk on March 11, 1968, and was found by a passing lorry driver. 'I remember one of my friends Sandra said 'there's the number for the Joe Duffy show', they might give you some direction,' she explains. David McBride and Helen Ward Ward recall their childhoods 'I picked up the phone, three, two, one, 'now you're talking to Joe'. The following day I got a call back from the Joe Duffy show. On air they had the lorry driver, Donal Boyle, and to speak to him was just an incredible moment.' David McBride grew up near Belfast. 'I had fantastic childhood, I had fantastic parents, two fantastic sisters, a fantastic brother,' he recalls. 'I was brought up during the Troubles, but didn't know it was the Troubles, I had just a normal childhood playing outside all the time, my brother and my sisters very protective towards me. My mother would tell me that I was special because she had chosen me.' When he needed a birth certificate to join the military, his father explained what happened to him. Helen Ward 'I was found in a car on the 16th of January 1962. I was found by a lady called Mrs Pullen, her husband was a doctor at the gynaecology unit of Queens University,' he says. 'She had been shopping earlier that day and she left all her shopping in the car and she decided to go out about nine o'clock at night to bring the shopping in. 'She opened the door of the car and on the seat was a tartan bag and when she looked at the tartan bag she realised there was a baby in it. And they called the police. I was then taken to the hospital in Belfast. They said that the clothes that I had on were quite expensive. I had a bottle with me and they said I was in excellent condition.' A Phone Box Babies newspaper clipping from the 1960s David moved to the west midlands in England about 20 years ago and decided to try to find his birth mother. His older sister urged him to contact the TV programme Long Lost Family, and through them he did a DNA test. He was told that through DNA testing it was found he had a sister, Helen, and the pair met up. 'I was totally shocked,' admits a joyful Helen. David McBride, Helen Ward and John Dowling shared the same parents The siblings found out their mother was Catholic and father Protestant. They never got to meet their mother, who died several years ago in Co Kerry. They then learned they had another brother, John Dowling, who was abandoned in 1965. 'My mam and dad, they never knew I was a foundling, it was only in 2013 I found out. A social worker friend found out that I was after being left in a phone box in Drogheda,' he says. A Phone Box Babies newspaper clipping from the 1960s His daughter Donna saw the Long Lost Family show with Helen and David, and when she saw a family resemblance, and also that Helen, like her father, had been found in a phone box, she urged him to get in touch. He was a DNA match with Helen and David. 'I didn't know the circumstances, 'why was I left', so I said to myself 'leave it now'. But I think as you get older you do think about your adoption, especially as you see your own children growing up,' he reflects.
Extra.ie
27-06-2025
- General
- Extra.ie
Irish phone box siblings search for long-lost brother
Three babies, who were all abandoned in different parts of Ireland, have revealed their hidden connection and why they believe there may be one more person just like them. Each of the babies was discovered in the 1960s by random passersby – two in phone boxes and one in a car – without any identifying information or clue to their origins. A new documentary airing next week on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player has uncovered details about the babies' parents and why they were given up. A newspaper clipping from the 1960s. Pic: RTÉ Fifty years later, as adults, they have discovered their connection to each other and are embarking on an emotional journey to uncover their identities. David McBride, born in 1962, was left in a car in a Belfast driveway. John Dowling, born in 1965, was found in a Drogheda phone box. Helen Ward, born in 1968, was discovered by a lorry driver in a Dundalk phone box. Driver Donal Boyle, who was 26 at the time, recalled: 'I opened the door of the phone box and there was a tartan shopping bag. I saw the bag moving and I said to myself, it's either someone dumped their pups or their kittens. David McBride. Pic: RTÉ 'And I opened the bag and there was the baby girl inside. The bottle was warm and she was well-wrapped up… but I don't know if she would have survived the night or not, it was so cold.' Each baby was adopted and raised in different parts of Ireland. In 2020, David McBride and Helen Ward discovered they were brother and sister through DNA technology and were reunited on the ITV series Long Lost Family. Helen Ward. Pic: RTÉ They were saddened to learn their parents had since died, but to their shock and joy, they subsequently found John Dowling, a third full sibling. They now believe there is a fourth sibling and are hoping this documentary will encourage that person to get in touch. Ms Ward said there were reports of a baby boy found in Newry in 1963, in a phonebox. John Dowling. Pic: RTÉ 'There's that strong possibility that this person could be part of our journey too,' she said. The Phone Box Babies airs on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player next Wednesday, July 2, at 9.35pm.
