PEEK behind the plaque in Poppleton Road Memorial Hall and you will see a prominent reminder of the 1960s and 1970s - a bingo ticket.

Back then, locals would spend every Friday night with their eyes down, all in the hope of winning the £2 full-house prize.

"We had some marvellous times there," remembers Anne Page, 72. "I used to run the Friday night session and we'd have between 20 and 23 people there.

"There used to be a Monday afternoon session as well, but somebody else ran that and it was part of the over-60s club."

Anne would order huge boxes of bingo tickets that would be delivered to her house. She often needed help to carry them to the hall.

She was a caller, first using a drum, then a bag and finally an electronic machine in the 1970s.

The machine was easiest, she said, but they were all fun to use.

Bingo would start at 7pm and there would be tea and biscuits at half time.

Everyone would sit around tables in a semi circle, with her in the middle.

She had great fun reading out the numbers. "We used to have lots of laughs," she said. "It was all legs 11 and 88, two fat ladies.

"If you won, you got 50p a line or £1 for a full house. That was in the Sixties. In the Seventies you got £1 a line or £2 a full house."

The hall was old and wooden, and often quite cold in winter. There were a few unpleasant nights when it was very cold, said Anne, but mostly, they didn't feel the weather.

The proceeds went towards the fund for a new hall. There would also be a raffle, to boost the total.

"They were good times, we always had a laugh," she said.

Behind the plaque in the new hall, there are several mementoes of life in the old one. These include a bingo ticket, said Anne.

"We wanted people in the future to be able to see what was important to our community."

The larger bingo clubs were the Clifton Bingo Club and Mecca, in Fishergate.

Beryl Cook, 62, went to Mecca Bingo every Monday night with her friend.

They would go straight from their jobs at Rowntree, she said.

Whatever they won, they always shared between them - once scooping £300, which was a lot then, she said.

"It was like our big weekly night out," said Beryl. "One thing I always see in my mind is that people always used to sit in the same seats.

"They must have had lucky seats. It was still made out like a cinema then with all the seats in rows and there was a stage.

"There weren't any tables so we had to lean the cards against something hard."

Beryl doesn't remember anyone having big wins, but people often won small amounts.

Nobody would go scuffy, she said, but they didn't dress up especially for the occasion.

"I think we were at the younger end at the time," she said.

"I think you could go for a cup of tea or coffee but I don't think there was a bar or anything."

Beryl and her friend went every week for five years, up until about 1976.

"We used to have a good time, I'd always look forward to it."

In The Yorkshire Evening Press, Saturday, December 19, 1964

  • A series of front page pictures showed the hustle and bustle of the last Saturday before Christmas in York
  • Olympic Games medals winner Ann Packer married Robbie Brightwell, captain of the men's athletic team at Tokyo
  • Families hugged and kissed in East Berlin as West Berliners passed through the Communist wall under the special passes agreements
  • Advert for event at Clifton Bingo and Social Club

In the charts

  • I Feel Fine - The Beatles
  • Downtown - Petula Clark
  • Little Red Rooster - Rolling Stones

At the cinema

  • Mary Poppins, above
  • The Pink Panther
  • A Hard Day's Night