Sandy great gran’s £15,000 surprise bingo win

After many years of playing bingo, a pensioner from Sandy has finally scooped the big one, with a £15,000 win at the Mecca club in London Road, Bedford.

But the lucky winner, who wants to remain anonymous, says she didn’t realise how much she had won at first and is still finding it hard to believe now.

It was on Monday, 5 May that good fortune struck.  She won the National Bingo Afternoon Delight Game prize of £14,080, plus the Regional prize of £1,027 and the house prize of £33 after completing a full house in 44 numbers, the lowest call in any of the 470 clubs playing nationwide.

“I was so shaky when I finally realised,” said the woman, “People were clapping me and one man even asked if he could take me home.”

The woman is a widow and has five children, four grandchildren and one great grandchild.  She has been a member of the Mecca for nine years and usually plays there once or twice a week.

She plans to use the money to help her son, who has just moved into a flat, and to pay for new flooring in her own home.  She will also take a holiday with a friend.