A visual and oral history documentary of the community of Mecca

A visual and oral history documentary of the community of Mecca Bingo,
Chandlers Wharf, Stockton today by Leigh Thomas and Amanda McHale
electronic gaming systems which enable people
to play up to 72 games at once, and national
games have resulted in the game being dubbed
“Bingo for the Playstation Generation”.
The interior of Mecca Bingo on Stockton High Street c. 1970.
From its illegal and shady roots bingo has now
become one of the most played commercial
games in the UK today. The Mecca Bingo,
Stockton is a mini Vegas in the heart of the
area. It is bright with lights, sounds and more
people than you’ll see anywhere in Stockton
on a Monday afternoon. There’s a buzz about
the place; the quiet intensity of the main game
is contrasted by the sounds of chatter and
emptying seats as smokers’ head outside during
breaks. It’s certainly no longer little old ladies
playing for peanuts.
For regular customers it is an irreplaceable part
of their lives, providing a safe social environment
with a level of care you don’t find in other forms
of entertainment. For many the game adds a little
spice to their lives as they manage to get away
from the stresses and strains of domestic life. It is
not just somewhere to win the jackpot, it’s a place
full of stories, family tradition and community.
Staff at the new Mecca Bingo Club, Chandlers Wharf on
25th July 1996, two hours before the doors opened for
the first time.
Mecca Leisure Social Club at the old Globe on Stockton
High Street in the 1970s. The Art Deco designed building
was built in 1935.
Far removed from the olden days of drawing
numbers from a rotating barrel and puzzling
jargon, the game is now at the forefront of
modern technology. Desktop games, portable
The Mecca Bingo Club opened its doors on
25th July, 1996, having moved from the former
Globe on Stockton High Street. This project
by Oral History graduate Leigh Thomas and
graduate photographer Amanda McHale
documents the role that the club plays in
the community through collected stories
and photographic images. It is an invaluable
way of recording parts of our community’s
heritage and will be preserved in the archive
collections of Stockton Museum Service for
future posterity.
Six women have been interviewed giving
testimonies on how the game of bingo affects
their lives, discussing topics like family life,
technology, winning and losing, bingo and the
impact of the Smoking Ban. The photographs
give us the visual impact of Mecca Bingo,
Stockton, geared to excite, and of course
capture the people and communities who
both socialise and gamble there.
Leigh Thomas
Leigh Thomas is a recent Oral History graduate
from the University of Teesside.
“I have been attending the bingo for many years
with my Mother and Grandmother, I decided it
was time to record some of the stories of the
people that go there, to explore the sense of
community that is so important to myself, my
family and the people that go there”.
Amanda McHale
Amanda McHale has recently graduated from a
Commercial Photography degree at Cleveland
College of Art & Design.
“My previous experience of bingo was many
years ago in working men’s clubs. I wanted to
capture the astonishing transformation that
it has undergone, that the 21st Century Bingo
Hall isn’t just a world away from the worn,
weary Victorian theatres, and the calls of “legs
eleven”; with coffee shops serving lattés, bright
lights, electronic gaming and breakfast menus,
bingo in 2009 is a different universe”.
Mecca Bingo at
Chandler’s Wharf
opened in 1996,
relocating from
the Globe Theatre
on the High Street
which had been it’s
home since 1977.
Vivien Wells
After the smoking ban do you think the bingo is still popular?
VW: Well I think it is still popular, but I do know people that will not go
because of the smoking ban, but having said that I mean they have
tried to accommodate, you can go out and play mechanised bingo
and there is a smoking area there erm you can go outside during the
breaks and have a cigarette if you wish to. Erm it’s a pity that there
isn’t mebbe a bit more sheltered accommodation to have a smoke
but I think a lot of people who really like bingo don’t let that put them
off, so I still think, I think once erm the cigarette ban came into effect
they was a big drop in bingo, I noticed but I think that’s starting to
build back up now, because people know that basically its not going
to change so if you really like your bingo you’ll wait till the break, go
out and have one then.
Keen to be seen as an inclusive leisure facility, the venue has 2 bars,
a cafeteria, a Costa Coffee concession, fruit machines, drink and
snack vending machines in addition to its 61 slot machines.
Joyce Vickers & Carol Dixon
Why do you think the bingo is so brilliant?
CD: I don’t know, it was probably somewhere to go, we didn’t drink, we
used to go dancing when we were younger, but once you get married
and start a family and you’ve got family…
JV: The years gone by, you look for something, sort of more quieter,
probably, is that the way to…
CD: Yeah, see Joyce already had her son then, but I didn’t I didn’t have my
first one till…
JV: That’s right, much later…
CD: Well ’65 I had my son, but I carried all my babies at the Empire,
’65, ’67 and ’71.
Even though you were married and had children, did you still use to go
quite regular?
CD: Yes…
JV: Yes, we use to leave our husbands at home to man the fort while we
went to bingo
Players have the option to play using traditional paper-based bingo
books or to use electronic books. The demand to play the Ebingo
terminals is beginning to outstrip supply but for some their use
remains a controversy, perceived as providing an unfair advantage
over players using the paper-based books.
Carol Dixon
How old were you when you first started going to the bingo?
CD: 1963, so I would be… 41, 61, I was 22, yep that’s when I first…
’63 I first started going, at the Empire.
JV:
Well take 1934 off that date and you’ve got another one
CD:
Well did you go ’63… ya did, when it opened…
JV:
Well just after I think
CD:
Ya did, when it opened
JV:
I probably didn’t go on the first day, ya know
CD:
Well no, I didn’t, but, the first year
JV:
Yeah the first year.
Bingo clubs rarely make a profit from the main bingo game revenue,
but from games played on electronic boards, the electronic table
games, concessions and other services it offers it’s members.
Joyce Vickers
Do you friends in the bingo?
CD: Oh loads of them…
JV:
Lots
CD:
They are all our friends, that’s why they know us so well.
What is the attraction with bingo?
JV: Well I think its because of the atmosphere…friends
CD:
The friends
JV:
We sort of know the managers, callers from years ago… they started
when they were young, when we were going to the empire they were
there, now they are growing older, there is a girl in the office who
used to be a caller out at the Empire
CD:
One of the managers use to work at the Empire
JV:
There’s a deputy manager there that started when he was eighteen,
I remember him starting
CD:
Paul, and he’s there now
JV:
We have watched them sort of, well not watched them grow up, but
advance over the years
CD:
Mr Booth that’s the manager now, the Empire was his first managerial
job and we have known him ever since
In a way do you feel like it is extended family?
CD: Yes! It is as far as I am concerned.
The largest demographic group of 21st century bingo players are
18-35 year olds who make up over 20% of members. According to
research younger players are less likely to be regular players.
Marie Tucker
Do you think it is mainly women who go to the bingo?
MT: It use to be, I mean years ago, it is so different now to even ten year
ago. I hardly ever seen a man at the bingo, now I would say it was half
and half.
Floor walkers are an ever-present sight in the bingo hall, on hand to
assist players and validate claims.
Jane Fisher & Vivien Wells
How important is the bingo to you?
VW: The bingo is very important, erm as I mentioned my son is disabled,
he loves the bingo in fact I’d say that it was his, the best place for
him, I think he would go everyday given the choice erm he loves the
people there, he likes the fact that he can go on the machines, it is
a nice little trip out, you can go on a afternoon which he does
sometimes and an evening and I think that’s another good thing.
Quite often people don’t wanna go drink on an afternoon but they
would like to go somewhere they might not wanna go for a meal.
The bingo there is available it’s there through the day and it’s there on
an evening, so it gives everybody you know the choice to go when
they want to go, which again isn’t available in lots of other areas, erm
you may not wanna go sit at the pictures it may not be the thing you
like to do. I think the bingo is really good for that. It is very important
to me cos as I say it is my one or two nights out that I can just shut
off from all the other problems, just have a good game of bingo
and you can get a laugh as well because the callers sometimes make
little jokes and erm you know they have us laughing, so it just a lovely
atmosphere than any bingo I’ve been to actually and that’s why we
favour going there.
Here in the book room, members can buy traditional bingo books and
dabbers or hire one of the new electronic bingo boards. Hire of the
new electronic boards is increasing, not least because they offer the
opportunity to play up to 72 games at a time.
Jane Fisher
Can you understand why people think bingo is boring?
JF: Well my partner says it all the time, he can’t understand why I wanna
go sit in the bingo, but we just like different things, I like the thought
of going and excitement of trying to win and going home and saying
I have won.
Does he like that?
JF: Oh he loves it when I’ve won, but he would never dream of going.
Perceived to be a socially acceptable form of gambling, bingo has
provided a social and community function for players, primarily for
women who have traditionally considered it a safe and comfortable
environment. According to a recent industry report, one fifth of
players cite the social aspect of bingo as a reason for playing.
Marie Tucker
What is your best memory of the bingo?
MT: Oh winning the National, my daughter had won it, it was eleven years
ago, actually it was eleven years this Sunday, May 17th, it was a
hundred thousand pounds, eeeh we just...
Did you know you had won straight away?
MT: Nor no no no, we didn’t know we had won the regional, no because
when you shout it all depends on who stops the game on the
least numbers.
How many numbers did you shout on?
MT: Forty five.
The stereotype of bingo as a game played by elderly ladies in dark,
smoky rooms is outdated. Although still predominantly a working
class leisure pursuit, membership amongst men and younger people
has grown, with 60% of players under the age of 45.
Hollie Galloway
Was the bingo what you expected?
HG: Nor it was way more impressive, I thought it would be quite run down
with nothing going on, but it was huge with loads of people and
tables, its like pretty impressive, but its good, quite professional with
a speaker and stands and screens with things on.
Was it quite scary your first time at bingo?
HG: It was a bit scary to begin with, cos I didn’t know what to say if you
won, like they didn’t make it clear what ya shout, but it was just really
fun and friendly once ya got settled.
In recent years the Bingo industry has faced many challenges. The
restrictions set by the 2005 Gaming Act which limited the number of highend gaming machines allowed on the premises to 4, caused significant
loss of profits. This was slightly eased in 2008 when the number allowed
was increased to 8. The move was a one off measure designed to help the
bingo industry which has suffered considerably after the smoking ban,
brought into effect on the 1st July 2007.
Stuart Booth
Manager of Mecca Bingo, Stockton
Mecca Bingo provides a safe and sociable venue for many local people to
meet and enjoy themselves in a low risk gaming environment. We have
been catering for Teesside’s bingo players since the 1960’s and when we
were asked to get involved in the project to archive some of this history for
future generations it was an invitation we could not ignore.
I hope that members of the public that get to see the display or read the
booklet , will better appreciate the role that bingo plays in the community.
The industry continues to face major obstacles, the introduction of the
Smoking Ban, changes to gaming legislation and more recently increased
taxation, however we have overcome adversity in the past and my instinct
tells me that bingo will survive and still be around in Stockton for many
years to come.
I am delighted with the end result and am grateful for the way that Leigh &
Amanda have managed the project. They were able to get their shots and
stories without disrupting the bingo which is an achievement in itself!
Research suggests that Bingo club members usually attend with
friends, the object being not to make new friendships but to
reinforce and strengthen existing ones.
With sincere thanks to Stuart Booth, manager of Mecca Bingo, Stockton, for his support
of the project and to the staff and customers for their time and efforts. This project is
kindly sponsored by Mecca Bingo Ltd. The project has also received an award from
The Sponsors Club for Arts & Business Fund for Mecca Bingo’s sponsorship of the project.