The New Year’s postcode lottery big prize fell on the Frisian village of Eastermar this year and now two locals have set up a special fund to benefit everyone who lives in the area.

In total, 273 villagers each won at least €55,000 in the lottery, while two families with the exact postcode which won the big prize share €26.95m in winnings.

Nynke de Jong, one of the lucky €55,000 winners, is launching a fund to benefit everyone in the village. She is asking all the winners to donate to the fund, which will be used to organise local activities.

‘If everyone puts in €100, we’ll have €30,000 to start off with,’ she told the Leeuwarder Courant newspaper. ‘You can do a lot with that.’

De Jong said she hoped that the atmosphere in the village of 1,500 will not change because of the big win. ‘It is a small and close community,’ she said. ‘There are some who have a harder life than others. That’s not such an issue when no-one has much but the lottery win has increased the differences.’