Bingo sessions bought pensioner back from the brink

February 5, 2010 Bingo News

Written by Nerys (February 5, 2010 at 1:16 pm)

A Derby pensioner has revealed the secret to turning her life around after feeling crippled by depression – the hunble game of bingo.

Speaking to the Derby Evening Telelgraph. Jill Gemmell, 67, described how seven years ago she was  left feeling desperate and isolated from struggling to cope with depression.

But thanks to a friend and a local bingo game, Jill has managed to turn her life around, and is now an active member of the committee at the Alvaston and Boulton Old People’s Welfare Club in Derby.

“I was very down and rarely left the house,” she recalled.

“Then a friend of mine took me along to one of the bingo sessions and I loved it. I joined in more and more and, when one of the committee members resigned, I offered to step in.”

The club, which provides a great lifeline to it’s 100 strong membership, boasts bingo games on Tuesdays and Thursdays, coffee mornings on Wednesdays and whist sessions on Saturdays.

The diverse range of activites available means the club is no doubt a treasured part of it’s members lives, with members ranging from those in their early 60s to the oldest member who is 95 years old.

But for many similar clubs and for many like Jill, the prospect of closure remains a constant threat, with local councils determined to scrap most schemes in an effort to cut costs. A similar club in Middlesbrough was recently reported to be facing such a fate, despite a wave of protests led by local bingo fans and members alike.

Among them was Cath Lockwood, 73, who enjoyed twice-weekly bingo sessions at the centre.

She said it was “very sad” that the bingo games could stop if the centre closed down.

It seems like many will have a big fight on their hands to make it through to 2010. And it comes amid assertions from the Department of Health that such council led schemes should be scrapped in order to empower older people to seek out games in at clubs run by bingo operators. Speaking about the success of such schemes, John Bolton, Finance Chief for Social Care for the Department of Health argued that it was more important to allow older people to budget their money than provide tailored facilities, thus allowing them to incorporate aspects of their past lives, including their bingo playing habits. Speaking at a conference on Thursday, Bolton said “Older people in particular want to go back and enjoy the things they achieved before they became frail.”

We cannot help but think that when you hear stories like Jill’s, it seems unfair to deny pensioners the right to a spot of bingo. Whether your bingo is run by your local council, at a local bingo club or even if you indulge in a spot of online bingo, with more studies proving indulging in a regular bingo session helps to ward off crippling diseases like dementia, and even help lengthen your life, we feel like there is every reason to keep the bingo fire burning in communities up and down the UK.