This Saturday millions of people across the country will be hoping it will be them as the National Lottery celebrates its fourth birthday with a £25 million jackpot. One woman you will be meeting if you have that winning ticket is Sheila Radford, the Yorkshire regional centre manager for Camelot. Heather Bishop talks to her about what it's like being the woman who hands out the loot to National Lottery winners

SHEILA RADFORD has a job in a million. As the woman who meets and greets new lottery winners, hands them that all-important seven-figure cheque and cracks open the champagne for them, she says that people are always pleased to see her.

Winners come to meet her at a secret location in Birstall where they are ushered into a comfortable room complete with sofas, drinks, soft lighting and music to put them at their ease.

It is a complete contrast to Sheila's former 17-year career as a detective sergeant with the West Yorkshire Police.

Her job included working with the serious crime squad interviewing victims of rape and sexual abuse, dealing with murder inquiries, drug crimes and undercover surveillance.

"It was harrowing at times, especially dealing with survivors of rape and children who had suffered sexual abuse, " she said.

"It was interesting and I do miss the adrenaline of the job, but I still get a kick when I hand a cheque out for £10 million to a lottery winner."

Sheila, who was brought up near Barnsley,, originally trained as a teacher and worked for a year at a school in Leicester. "I really hated it and I knew it wasn't what I wanted to do," she said.

"Then I worked in publishing, sold advertising and I even drove taxis for six months in Wakefield while I was waiting for my police training. Doing several different jobs has added to my experience.

Sheila, who is single and in her forties, joined Camelot four years ago as a fraud investigator. "A close colleague of mine from the police died, and it made me realise life was too short," she said.

"I decided to take a four-year career break from the police and I moved to Camelot dealing with security and ticket fraud in the North of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland."

Sheila, who lives in Wakefield, got the job as regional centre manager just over a year ago.

"It is totally different from anything that I've done before," she said. For once, everyone is pleased to see me and it's wonderful. You get to see the nice side of everybody and it's never dull.

"This job is more than just handing cheques out. I organise regional events and do talks about Camelot and the lottery.

"My previous counselling experience in the police has helped. Many lottery winners are in a state of shock and need help, advice and support."

Outside work Sheila escapes from the stresses and strains of everyday life by travelling to her holiday home in the Dales. "I can never truly switch off. On a Saturday night I can't resist checking on Teletext how many winners there have been and wondering if they're in our area," she said.

But as a member of the Camelot staff, Sheila knows she will never be handing herself a cheque...as she is not allowed to play the National Lottery.

"A national radio station recently described my job as the best job in the world - and when you see the winner's faces as I hand them that cheque, I would have to agree."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.