Thirty-two players share £253k jackpot at Hounslow's Gala Bingo (From Hounslow And Brentford Times)

Thirty-two players share £253k jackpot at Hounslow's Gala Bingo

3:45pm Tuesday 9th March 2010

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Two fat ladies can often be heard in bingo halls up and down the country - but it’s not every day you come across 31 screaming women.

Then again, it’s not every day you see an entire hall of bingo players scoop a share of a £253,000 jackpot.

Not unless you were one of the lucky winners at Gala Bingo, Hounslow, recently - where one woman walked away with a staggering £128,000.

And because she hit the “High 5 Jackpot” her fellow players, 30 women and one lone man, all shared in an additional £125,000 windfall.

Dian Pond, who has been bingo-ing at the Staines Road club with her mum, Gladis Paget, every Monday, Wednesday and Friday for the past six years, said her family was “over the moon” at winning a total of £10,718.

The 41-year-old said: “Me and my mum just looked at each other and started laughing.

“We were gobsmacked, I think our mouths hit the floor.

“Everyone was clapping their hands and cheering - we were ecstatic.”

Fellow player, 64-year-old Lynda McNamara, who now hopes to take her grandchildren to Disneyland, added: “When we realised that we were all winners too you would have thought there were a thousand people in the room with all the noise.

“It really has been life changing for us all - it’s like a dream come true.”

Mrs Pond described how the tearful jackpot winner, who has chosen to remain anonymous, was being hugged by every player in the hall in the aftermath of the mass win, last month.

To treat themselves, Mrs Pond and her 60-year-old mother went out for a slap-up meal - in the nearby McDonald's - before returning to the hall for an evenings worth of play.

The bingo partners, from Feltham, plan on buying their family, particularly Mrs Pond’s nine children, a long list of gifts. Mrs Pond added: “Christmas will be a good one, I will make sure.”

The club’s general manager, Rick Espey, said: “The winner has been coming to the club for many years and we were all so excited for her when she shouted ‘house’. The whole club was clapping and cheering and the atmosphere was electric.”

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