A LLANTWIT sharp-shooter who once represented Wales in the Commonwealth Games is celebrating after hitting the bullseye with a £250,000 People’s Postcode Lottery win.
Phill Llewellyn, 68, competed in back-to-back Commonwealth Games – Brisbane in 1982 and Edinburgh in 1986. The retired farmer and power plant worker received the news at his family’s farmhouse – and will now share his prize with his family and upgrade a holiday to Australia.
Phill, of Llantwit Major, said: “I’m on top of the world! It’s an awesome amount of money. I’d like to say it’s life-changing, but I’m hoping it doesn’t change us too much. And to think at first I thought it was all a wind-up – now I’m standing here with a cheque for £250,000.”
He was the only winner when the lottery’s £250,000 prize landed in CF61 2YT on Saturday, 31st January.
Phill said: “I signed up nine years ago – obviously for the chance of winning but also the fact we could do a little bit for charity. It crossed my mind that being out in the sticks, I’d probably never win.
“At first, I thought it was wind-up when I got a phone call from Postcode Lottery and they told me they’d be sending out a camera crew, and I thought it must be a hell of an elaborate wind-up.”
Phill’s roots run deep in the Vale. He has lived at the same family farm since he was just three months old, after his parents bought the property in 1957. The farm operated as a dairy unit until 2000, when the family made the heartbreaking decision to walk away from farming.
Phill said: “Farming was already in trouble then, and it’s even worse now. We were losing money. We had a choice – either go massively into debt or get out while we still could. Luckily, my dad who ran this place was still alive at the time and he was a very practical fella. In hindsight, it was the best move.”
He said: “When we were producing milk, there were nine dairy farms nearby. Now there’s just one – with about 2,000 cows. That tells you everything.”
After leaving farming, Phill swapped wellies for a hard hat, working at a local power station for 20 years before retiring in 2020.
Away from the farm, Phill’s sharp eye and steady hand led him to international success. He got into clay shooting almost by accident after visiting a local gun club – and one nudge from a fellow shooter changed everything.
Phill recalled: “A fellow farmer, Basil George, told me I needed to take it more seriously. I went back a few more times, started competing – and before I knew it, I qualified for the Commonwealth Games.”
He shared fond memories of representing Wales at the Commonwealth Games, participating individually in the skeet shooting and in the trap pairs: “In Brisbane, it was quite bizarre. I was with a fella called Jim Dunlop from Scotland and for the team event – which is a two-man event – I was the only one from Wales who got the scores to qualify for the event and Jim was the only one from Scotland.
“They said, ‘you can pair up and shoot the actual competition, but you obviously can’t be entered into it, being from two different nations’. So, we entered as Watland!”
The memories still make him smile.
Family is firmly at the heart of his plans for the prize money and his wife Caroline, 70 watched on in delight. Phill said: “It’s the kids, without a doubt. We’ve got three grown-up children – they’ll probably have plans for this before I do.”
The win will also help fund a special trip next year. He said: “We’ve got our niece’s wedding in Australia. That was always going to be a holiday — now it’s going to be a much bigger one.”
And in a final twist that sounds almost too good to be true, Phill revealed the couple may have had a hint of what was coming. On Caroline’s 70th birthday, she cracked open a fortune cookie at a family meal – and the message inside was uncanny.
Phill laughed and said: “It said there were going to be big surprises this year. Two days later she had a surprise party… and now this.”
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