Video: With £1.2bn between them, it’s Yorkshire’s most exclusive street party

But these being Yorkshire millionaires - many of whom didn’t have penny until they won big on the National Lottery - the emphasis was more on saving money than spending it.

At a special garden party held at the Woodlands Hotel in Leeds, Lottery operator Camelot laid on champagne, bunting, balloons and food.

Their select bunch of guests, more than 40 millionaires from across Yorkshire, said their lives had been transformed, mainly because they no longer worried about debt and unpaid bills.

One woman millionaire, Deana Sampson, turned up in some nice red high heels - just £19.99 from discount retailer TK Maxx, she proudly revealed.

The £5.5m winner from Sheffield - now living just over the border in Derbyshire - used to live on benefits in a council house and hasn’t forgotten her roots.

It took her a long time to adjust to being rich, she said.

Her first car after winning was a Ford Mondeo and it was a good few years before she graduated to driving a Porsche.

The 49-year-old said: “I come from a Northern working class background. My feet are firmly on the ground, but I do wear better shoes now. These heels are better than I used to wear; I used to get my shoes from the market.”

She has invested her money in restaurants and bars and works hard to keep them in business, occasionally waitressing and doing bar work.

But she accepts the millions have changed her lifestyle for the better. “It was a complete lifestyle change for me. My children went to private school and I now live in an old mill. I appreciate the money but I don’t take it for granted.”

A modest win of £1m for Scarborough couple Derek and Sandra Streets, both 62, has meant only small adjustments to their old lives.

They still live in the same two-bed bungalow, but they have paid the mortgage and taken early retirement.

They also have a holiday home in Berwick, Northumberland. “We are Yorkshire people and, like I said, we are tight,” says Mr Streets with a grin.

The concept of Yorkshire thrift is best demonstrated by Barnsley couple Theresa and Graham Norton, now living in Rotherham.

Their £1.7m winnings has got them two caravans on a pitch in Cleethorpes. They also bought a Toyota Avensis but now own a Kia car, probably the ultimate in value-for-money motors.

Mr Norton has always been happiest while fishing and nothing much has changed on that front, except he can afford to buy a rod for £4,000.

The couple, both 41, won big in 2003 but in eight years they have not even spent half their fortune.

“We didn’t buy a new home, but we did get extensions and a pool table. We have still got £1m left. You have got to look after it,” he says.

Theresa and Graham often go to Camelot-organised events which involves hob nobbing with millionaires from across the UK.

The ‘southerners’ they meet only ever want to talk about money, he jokes.

“We don’t talk about money. The southern Lottery winners always talk about money, they seem to be obsessed with it. Up here, they don’t. One of them (southerners) told me he spent £4,000 on an inflatable Father Christmas - that could buy a new fishing pole!”

Yorkshire winners like to go steady with their new cash, he says.

“People from Yorkshire win and try to look after it. They don’t shout about it like they do down South.”

Apart from pricy fishing rods, Mr Norton has not really acquired any expensive tastes. He shunned the free champagne yesterday in favour of a pint of lager.

Bradford couple David and Margaret Storey won £1.4m in 1998 and retired early.

Life is good at the moment but new money can breed jealousy, warns Mrs Storey.

“Only people who have won money can understand the feeling. It can be mixed - there is elation but there are problems. There is always jealousy, it’s everywhere. People act different towards you; they think that you have changed just because you have money. We haven’t changed. Your moral standards stay the same if you have had a good upbringing.”

Robin and Elaine Leason, from Driffield, are another couple whose Lottery win gave them the freedom to get more out of life.

They splashed out on a Range Rover Sport but Mrs Leason does not see much point in expensive designer handbags.

Mr Leason also spent £300 on a present for his wife’s 50th birthday last year.

“I surprised her. I got her a bright orange cement mixer. She didn’t speak to me for a fortnight.”