A TRALEE man will have a chance to win thousands of euro next week on a television show.
As usual, there were five people drawn out of the drum on the National Lottery’s Winning Streak on RTE1 on Saturday night to appear on next week’s show and one of them was Jimmy Kelly from Woodlands, Oakpark.
Jimmy, is no stranger to a bit of fortune but is still surprised at the reaction of his friends, family and community in Woodlands in Tralee as he has been inundated with well-wishes since Saturday.
He is taken aback at the kindness of people in sending him cards, text messages and calling to his house just to wish him good luck.
When he saw his name come out he remained calm as he wanted to be sure that it was him and not some other Jimmy Kelly in Tralee but his delight was confirmed when his full name and address flashed on screen at the end of the show.
Jimmy has won the Lotto raffle number on two occasions, winning €300 each time and also won €17,000 on a local lotto back when he was working. He also gifted someone a scratch card who won €5,000 a few years ago so there is a lucky streak in Jimmy.
Jimmy has been married to Kathleen for the past 47 years and the couple have five adult children; one boy and four girls.
They are Susan (44), Jeannette (43), Doreen (39), Karen (36) and Derek (34) and between them they have given Jimmy 11 grandchildren. Jimmy is quite the proud granddad and says that his army of grandchildren are the “icing on his cake”.
With any winnings Jimmy plans to do a bit more travelling, something that he has been keen on since retirement and plans to go to Prague in the Czech Republic with his wife Kathleen, as well as going to Greece in September to celebrate their 48th wedding anniversary.
Jimmy is a keen golfer, playing at Killarney Golf and Fishing club and he is also a member of the clubs choir.
He also loans his voice to the local church choir and loves to get out of the house walking, gardening and painting. A laid-back retirement is not an option for Jimmy, who ran the Dublin Marathon six times when he was younger.
All his children and six grandkids will be in the audience cheering him on on Saturday night in RTE.