{"id":599,"date":"2025-03-10T20:16:32","date_gmt":"2025-03-10T21:16:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/?p=599"},"modified":"2025-03-11T23:08:16","modified_gmt":"2025-03-11T23:08:16","slug":"meet-the-97-year-old-great-grandma-whos-playing-bingo-with-the-cheeky-girls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/10\/meet-the-97-year-old-great-grandma-whos-playing-bingo-with-the-cheeky-girls\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the 97-year-old great-grandma who\u2019s playing bingo with The Cheeky Girls"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Anne Gandy, 97, has been to Bongo\u2019s Bingo more than 20 times (Picture: Joel Goodman\/Metro)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Blow-up dolls, The Cheeky Girls, and dildos dished out as prizes aren\u2019t what you expect to find in a bingo hall.<\/p>\n

And you certainly wouldn\u2019t expect to find a 97-year-old boogying to rave music with her daughters, grandchildren and a great-grandchild.<\/p>\n

But Bongo\u2019s Bingo isn\u2019t your bog standard affair. \u2018It\u2019s boring if you just play bingo all night\u2019, Anne Gandy told Metro<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

She was something of a special guest among the 3,500 people wearing cowboy hats, bride\u2019s veils and glowsticks at the the \u2018immersive, experiential\u2019 event\u2019s 10th birthday in Liverpool<\/a> on Saturday night.<\/p>\n

Anne has been more than 20 times in the last six years since her granddaughter Sarah, 29, first inspired her.<\/p>\n

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Anne Gandy, 97, enamoured by the noughties pop sensation, The Cheeky Girls (Picture: Joel Goodman\/Metro)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u2018She was talking about Bongo Bingo and I thought, \u201cOoh, I\u2019d like to go there\u201d, so she took me\u2026 in the end\u2019, Anne said.<\/p>\n

\u2018And I\u2019ve been going ever since. I\u2019ve enjoyed it.\u2019<\/p>\n

For this latest anniversary, four generations of her family went along \u2013 her daughters Donna and Norma, aged 59 and 71, and Sarah, of course, along with fellow grandchild David, 25, and great-grandson Bobby, 20.<\/p>\n

They even took part in the \u2018rave round\u2019 \u2013 the customary 15 minutes of dancing to techno, when people even get up on benches amid cardboard cutouts of celebrities, including David Attenborough.<\/p>\n

Anne said: \u2018The dancing, the music, I just like the atmosphere.\u2019<\/p>\n

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You\u2019d almost be mistaken for thinking there was no bingo at Bongo\u2019s, but here Anne is, playing with her family (Picture: Joel Goodman\/Metro)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It\u2019s a far cry from the church bingo Anne otherwise goes to.<\/p>\n

\u2018Each show features riotous fun, amazing music, crazy prizes, en masse Karaoke, rave rounds, dance-offs and of course plenty of bingo as part of a\u00a0bonkers, surreal and very\u00a0energetic night\u2019, its spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

First started in Liverpool in 2015, Bongo\u2019s Bingo now takes place in more than 40 locations from London to Newcastle and even, since February last year, New York.<\/p>\n

More than five million tickets have been sold in that time.<\/p>\n

\u2018It\u2019s since helped to revolutionise competitive socialising across the UK\u2019, with prizes including pink unicorns, Henry Hoovers and disco ball helmets.<\/p>\n

According to the organisers, Bongo\u2019s Bingo has \u2018rejuvenated a quintessentially quaint British pastime\u2019.<\/p>\n

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Liverpool\u2019s Exhibition Centre saw a lively array of dancing, live performances and bingo (Picture: Joel Goodman\/Metro)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Live performers have included R&B singer Craig David, pop artist Natasha Beddingfield, Eurodance group Vengaboys, boyband 5ive, and electronic group N-Trance.<\/p>\n

Jeremy Corbyn even called out a few numbers when he popped in during the Labour Party\u2019s annual conference in Liverpool in 2018.<\/p>\n

With lineups like that, it\u2019s no surprise Bongo\u2019s Bingo sells itself as \u2018nostalgia-soaked revelry in a dose of pure, unadulterated and immersive escapism\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u2018There\u2019s all age groups and everybody\u2019s all enjoying themselves\u2019, according to Donna.<\/p>\n

\u2018We usually go for the Christmas specials, but Anne wasn\u2019t very well this year so we couldn\u2019t go. We haven\u2019t been since her birthday in September.\u2019<\/p>\n

Anne will be spending her 98th birthday at Bongo\u2019s Bingo though. She said: \u2018Nobody seems to pick anyone out. Everybody\u2019s relaxed with each other and enjoying themselves.\u2019<\/p>\n

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk<\/a>.<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

For more stories like this, <\/strong>check our news page<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Anne Gandy, 97, has been to Bongo\u2019s Bingo more than 20 times (Picture: Joel Goodman\/Metro) Blow-up dolls, The Cheeky Girls, and dildos dished out as prizes aren\u2019t what you expect to find in a bingo hall. And you certainly wouldn\u2019t expect to find a 97-year-old boogying to rave music with her daughters, grandchildren and a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":601,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=599"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/599\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":606,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/599\/revisions\/606"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/softnary.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}