A full house of fun

Bingo is shedding its blue rinse and mothballs image and bidding to become young, fun and sexy.

'The bingo that gets you buzzing' is Gala's new slogan, and Swindon manager Stuart Kirkpatrick claims he can guarantee a buzz for all players.

The club, at Greenbridge, attracts players from across the county and has been the scene of two big wins in the last month.

First a 67-year-old Chippenham grandmother won £51,248 three weeks ago and then last week a 55-year-old mum of four went home to Westlea with £23,899.

On both nights manageress Lynn Burst was on duty and has now been christened Lucky Lynn.

I went along to Gala bingo to check out the manager's claims, and to see if I would be the only person there without a bus pass.

The first thing that struck me when I walked in, gin and tonic in hand (things going okay so far) was the silence.

I arrived in the middle of a card and the silence was electric with tension and concentration, broken only by the scratching of pens as people ticked off the numbers. I made the mistake of breathing too loudly and received a glare from the lady next to me these people clearly take their bingo seriously.

After the card was over, and a middle aged woman was clutching a ten pound note, people relaxed enough to chat and tell me how their strange obsession with ticking numbers off a piece of paper happened.

These included Nathan Blake, a 34-year-old taxi driver with a skinhead not your stereotypical bingo player.

He said he comes to bingo every week with his wife, mum and mother-in-law and often brings a group of his mates along as well.

"The beer is cheap, the people are very friendly, there is never any aggro or hassle and you have the chance to actually make a profit on the night,'' he said.

"Taxi drivers are terrified of taking a night off in case they lose money, but here they might actually win money."

Winning money seems to be a recurring theme, although it's not as easy as it looks, as I find when I try my hand. After a couple of cards I don't win anything maybe it is because there is no sign of Lucky Lynn.

I decided to talk to more players about the lure of the game.

Jill Perry, 32, of Swindon's Park North, explained: "I work as a children's support worker all day, I'm doing an NVQ in childcare and I have got two children.

"Coming to bingo is the only chance I get to relax, chill out and have a bit of a natter with my friends or family. I usually come with my mum, Dorothy, because when I first started coming all my mates thought it was a bit weird, but now I have converted a lot of them and they all come with me."

Although they are younger, the majority of the clientele on my night out were older players. But Mr Kirkpatrick said at the weekend it is a different story. He said: "A lot of young people come here on Friday or Saturday night, have fun playing, perhaps win some money and then go on afterwards to a club.

"It's a really nice place for a group of girls to go because it is totally safe and they never get any hassle. We have several families where three generations come together to play, which would not really be possible in a bar or club.

"Even on a Monday night we have around 400 people, but at weekends we get to 1,000 and then we have to close the doors."

It is a cheap night out, has a good bar and a friendly atmosphere, but I was disappointed to find clickety click, two fat ladies and legs eleven have now disappeared. The game has gone electronic in a bid to appeal to a younger audience. On the evidence of my night out, it is not working yet.

Why do we do it? It's a brilliant night out

THE regulars at the Gala all say they keep on coming for one reason it is a good night out.

Nurse Linda Woodlands, 44, comes to bingo every week with her friends Debbie Brown, 49, a council worker, and Celia Pearce, 43, who works for Book Club Associates. She also brings along her daughter Donna, 21, who works for Nationwide, and Debbie's son Michael Anstey, 22, a National Power worker, who happen to be boyfriend and girlfriend.

Mrs Woodland said: "We come pretty much every week, it's a chance to win some money and also it's a very social thing for all of us to get together.

"There is a huge range of different people who come here and everyone is very friendly."

Frieda Cox, 71, and her husband Albert, 73, have been making the trip to Swindon from Stanford in the Vale, near Faringdon, four times a week for the last six years. Mrs Cox said: "I love bingo, I love the excitement and the buzz of it all.

"The excitement when you have all the numbers you need except one is just amazing.

"The most I have ever won is £2,000, but at £10 a game with the chance to win up to £20,000 you really can't go wrong.

"Apart form the money it is a very social atmosphere here and we have made a lot of friends through the club, because we go so often."

Bill Wickson, 78, comes in from Wootton Bassett at least three times a week to try his luck.

He said: "I used to come with my wife, but since I lost her I come with friends to play. It's a nice social night out, and a good fun game certainly better than sitting in watching TV and drinking homemade wine, which is probably what I would be doing if I wasn't here.''

Ten things you never knew about bingo

Gala's national prize every night is £20,000

The nightly house prizes go up to £1,000, with £20,000 for the Gala Draw.

On an average night a bingo hall will take more money than a casino

Bingo players are very superstitious and many carry soft toys as lucky charms

The most bizarre mascot to turn up at the Swindon Gala club was a garden gnome

Famous bingo players include ex-England star Gazza, TV's Chris Evans (husband of Swindon pop diva Billie) and U2'S Bono

Actress Catherine Zeta-Jones even credits her Hollywood success to bingo, after her father won £50,000 and used his winnings to send her to stage school

In the 2001 Gala bingo finale, more than 10,000 people entered

Cambridge University research shows that bingo delivers better odds of winning than Lotto, horses, football, the Pools and even certain game shows.

The world's biggest ever bingo game was played on December 22, 2002 and the odds of winning a full house were 200,000/1.