The name John Lawrence is familiar to many people in Shropshire. He’s known as the bingo man after dedicating most of his adult life to calling bingo numbers every week in his village hall. After hanging up the mic two decades ago, he is still actively takes part in the numbers game, only he finds himself the other side of the calling table.
It’s been a long twenty years away from the stage, but he’s back to celebrate hitting top of the shop – nine-oh 90 and to mark this magnificent milestone, John will take to the mic once again and he has only vowed to stop when a target or more than 50 people arrive for a good old-fashioned game of bingo.
Like a Duck to Water:
Tuesday nights is bingo night and john started going to bingo at Clungunford Village Hall (UK) with his late wife jean many moons ago. To get as much publicity for the event as possible, the local media were invited along to interview the nonagenarian and it was quite an eye-opener.
"We never used to play bingo, but we took to it like ducks to water. It keeps the brain working, ticking the numbers off. Then one day they asked if I would call. I wasn't too keen on it at first, but Jean said to me, 'you do it, or we won't have anyone to do the bingo'. The rest is history."
John had one aim in the many years of calling the bingo numbers and that was to liven up the weekly event whilst trying to encourage more players to attend. The number of players who turn up is low due to online bingo and mobile bingo sites, but there’s still plenty to keep the real money prizes flowing.
Community Hub:
When asked on his specific style, he said: All I try and do is jolly it all up each week and try and make it a bit interesting.
"At one time we were only getting around 25 people each week, but I kept pushing it and telling people to bring a friend. It is a good evening; it is good for the community to get together. The cash prizes go up if we have more people, and we do shows and a Christmas raffle – I always use my old age pensioner pocket money to buy some prizes."
The target of 50 people through the doors may seem a bit outrageous, but he’s been close to this benchmark in the past, with 47 turning up to play bingo. Speaking on the overall experience, he said: "I do enjoy it. My late wife enjoyed it, and she is on my mind every day from when I rise in the morning to when I go to sleep. She liked the little club, it is a friendly, family-orientated club, and we would always have a laugh and a joke there. So, I do it for Jean."
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