THE lucky first winners of the Oxford Mail Christmas number competition are going to spend their prize money on keeping extra snug.

Clifford and Jennifer Green, from Cowley, use a traditional coal central heating system. And, with the price of fuel going up, the couple said the £100 prize will help keep them warm.

Mr Green, 80, said: “I checked the paper and said to my wife, ‘look, these are my numbers’, and she said ‘they can’t be’. So I rang the number and sure enough, the lady said we had won.

“We are very pleased with our prize. We shall probably spend it on heating for the house.”

Mr and Mrs Green have lived together in Oxford since they got married 49 years ago.

They met on holiday in Majorca, and Mrs Green, who was from Cardiff, moved to Oxford to be nearer her holiday sweetheart, who lived in Benson at the time. They have three children.