Oldest bingo caller in town

She might be nearly top of the shop but bingo-mad grandmother Annie Wheway is still on the ball when it comes to her favourite game.

Sprightly Annie, who turns 90 tomorrow, is believed to be Wolverhampton’s oldest bingo caller.

She calls out the numbers for tenants at Wolverhampton’s Hayling Grove sheltered housing scheme where she has lived for the past six years. And she said she has no intention of calling time on her bingo-calling days just because she reaches the big 9-0 tomorrow.

Annie, who has three children, two grandchildren and a great-grandchild, was a late starter to the bingo craze having never played the game before moving to the Penn-based sheltered accommodation.

“I really enjoy calling out the numbers and I have no intention of stopping just because I’m turning 90,” she smiled.

“I had never really played it before but now it is my favourite game.”

She said it is “awful” that Wolverhampton city centre’s popular branch of Mecca could be closing its doors.

“I don’t think I could handle calling out the numbers to so many people, though,” she said.

Mecca Bingo fans from Wolverhampton have been left “devastated” after bosses announced it could be closed at the end of next month.

Placard-waving protesters campaigned outside the Skinner Street branch on Saturday in a desperate bid to save the club from the axe.

The decision to close the club was taken in light of the forthcoming smoking ban because bosses expect profits to plunge if members boycott their halls.

Annie will be celebrating tomorrow with a party with staff, tenants and family.

Scheme manager Barbara Reeves said today: “Annie is our oldest tenant and she really likes getting involved in all the social events that we run.

“We do bingo nights twice a week and she loves being the bingo caller.

“She started doing it about five years ago and I would think she must be the oldest bingo caller in the area.”

By Victoria Nash

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