I remember being allowed in to sit with my parents during the marathon online bingo sessions at Bognor Regis and Clacton Holiday Camps. The hall seemed to me to be massive- in fact I think it was the main dining area with all the cutlery cleared away and the tables wiped from the morning’s breakfast sittings. Yes, there were sessions- the loudspeakers called you to the early middle or late sittings that were you allocated upon registration. It was all a bit regimented! There was a raised area that everyone faced, and Redcoats came round to sell the Bingo cards. There was an early form of blower random number generator with numbered and coloured Ping-Pong balls, and a large board with the numbers 1-90 on it. Above each number was a hook, and as the numbers were called, a Redcoat hooked a solid disk over the number to show everyone in the hall that fact. There was also a huge spinning wheel, that had the numbers of all the tables in the hall on it (each table had a brass number screwed on to the Formica top). The wheel was spun once at the beginning of each session and again at the end. The table number where the hand stopped then got a bottle of champagne (or it could have been Cava). My folks’ table number came up at one session, and my Dad asked if he could swap the bottle for a couple of Brown Ales! Wine drinking among the lower and middle classes was rare it would seem!

I can’t remember having daubers at that time- I think you had to use the thick stubby crayon-like pencils that you were sold at the same time as the Bingo cards. I remember that despite the vast number of people in the hall (I think the whole adult Camp population must have been there, plus a few kids like me) it was very quiet during the calling of the numbers. I guess this was people concentrating- much as happens even today at live land-based Bingo sessions. Amazingly I remember that one of the Redcoat callers was called “Reg” and was very popular. When it was the other one, “Wally”, people grumbled because he wasn’t as funny, mumbled a bit, and wore too much Brylcream according to my Mum Reg had a name to go with every number- not just the popular ones like “two fat ladies- 88” (no PC stuff in those days) and Kelly’s Eye number 1, but ones that were in vogue at that time- few of which I remember. There was one that got a huge roar of laughter- something to do with a number related to the Christine Keeler sex-scandal affair (I won’t go there- if you’re interested, Google it!).

The prizes rarely seemed to be money, but a weird assortment of household stuff like Soadastream fizzy drink makers, Polaroid cameras, primitive food blenders, table lamps and awful coloured glass ornaments in the shapes of fish and bulls. But there were also vouchers that could be exchanged for drinks in the onsite pubs, or for other items- including more Bingo tickets!

I can remember that there seemed to be a very good camaraderie among the Bingo players, one that continues today both online and at live events. It must be something to do with the game itself mustn’t it?

I wish you good luck, and rest assured that if you’re playing online and win, you won’t be sent one of those awful coloured glass animals as a prize- it’ll more likely be money credited to your account- much more acceptable!

My first memories of playing Bingo were from my holidays with my parents in the early 1960s, at English Holiday Camps. Now for the younger among you, I should say that Holiday Camps were a phenomenon of the late 50’s and 60’s and began to decline in the 70’s although they never went away completely, and have just had face and name-lifts (think Center Parcs). The comedy series Hi-di-Hi very accurately portrays the Holiday Camp of the 1960s, even down to including Bingo sessions in some episodes.

My research indicates that the game of Bingo was around as early as four years after the War (1949) as it was referenced in an article about Butlins Holiday Camp, although it was then called Tombola or Housey-Housey or Lotto.

The Holiday Camps I was taken to, judging by my dog-eared photos from that period, were Minehead (in Somerset), Puckpool (no idea where that is!), Bognor Regis, Clacton and Canvey Island near the mouth of the Thames. I think there were a few others too. The people who owned the Camps were very familiar to me because they were almost like celebrities- they advertised constantly on the new Independent television channel. There was jolly Billy Butlin, and Fred “Book early!” Pontin.

Upon arrival I was promptly dispatched to become a member of the children’s’ clubs run at each camp. I was a Butlin’s Beaver, a Warner’s Wagtail.. and a Pontin’s something or other! I now realise this was a neat trick to be able to have me off doing supervised things with all the other kids, so that the parents could have a holiday too, and indulge in Bingo sessions as well as have some peace beside the (unheated) pools.

Bingo was clearly popular by the time I was being taken to the camps because at Butlins there were two sessions each day, always packed out, and they lasted 2-3 hours. Apparently at that time, the Camps could not play the game for gain and so had to donate the money from profits to charity. But I recall that this didn’t cover the considerable amount of money the Camp made from selling snacks, sweets, drinks, ice creams and assorted other stuff (including pencils- and bizarrely, rubbers) during the sessions.