Donegal hairdresser was dismayed to find that bingo wasn't an event where you can just swan around with a glass of wine and watch kids play the game

I am going to have to tell you about my experience which took place over the course of a recent weekend. I am sure so many of you know all about Bingo but this was my first venture into the game - a venture into the unknown. The reason that I ended up going was my friend asked me to come along and of course I did as it was a charity event for a school in Ballyshannon.

I had no idea what to expect and for some reason I thought we would be swanning around drinking wine while the children were playing bingo. To my dismay this was not the case.

The moment I walked in, I could immediately feel the tension, the excitement in the room. There had to be at least 400 people in the room. There were so many, we couldn't even get a seat. We sat on the floor at the back. It was in the Great Northern Hotel in Bundoran so it was a nice thick carpet and there we sat until the break.

I had to get a quick lesson on how to play and discovered that, yes, it is quite easy but it is all very serious and you could tell by the confidence of some of the quick responses of BINGO and CHECK that this crowd knew what they were at. My friend Catherine remarked on how relaxing it was. However, I wasn't feeling the same vibe.

We were flat out checking numbers and dreading having to shout if you did win. Fears of getting it wrong - of the crowd turning against you - a collective conscious adopting a negative opinion of 'the one who got it wrong.'

My 12-year-old daughter thought she had a line and indeed she had but only to discover she was too late in saying so which literally means 'you snooze you lose.' I was embarrassed for her but then there were lots of those moments - false alarms they call them. Lots of prizes were won, hampers and a jack- pot of a 1000 euro.  

It is a world I knew nothing about and I can now see the appeal. When it was over, everyone just up and left as quickly as they came in. They were 'a no messing around kind of crowd.'

The winner from last week's competition is Veronica Boyle, Marameelan, Dungloe. She was nominated by her 3 children as being the Best Mammy in the World.
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