A BINGO-playing pensioner has been banned from more than 100 Mecca halls across the country – because she organised trips to a rival bingo club.
When 76-year-old Rose Clemson organised three day trips for elderly friends to a Runcorn bingo hall, she thought nothing of having a change of scenery from her regular haunt, the Mecca bingo on Brook Street – opposite her St Oswald’s flat, St Anne Street, Newtown.
But then Mecca sent a letter to Rose banning her from all of their clubs for breaching membership rules.
It cited evidence from customers that they had ‘approached members at Mecca Chester offering coach trips to opposition bingo clubs’.
It also claimed that they were ‘aggressive’ towards the duty manager and that their behaviour was ‘unacceptable’ when they were asked to leave.
The retired nurse, who had been playing bingo in Chester for 53 years, was escorted from the floor with her husband last March.
She is now threatening to leave the city and take legal action.
Rose said: “They’ve made my life hell. I’ve gone to rock bottom. It’s the only thing that people have got round here. There’s no picture house, no theatre.
“I don’t know how long I’ve got to live and they’ve taken away everything that I love to do.”
Husband Frank, 73, added: “If you do something in a place that’s where you get barred, but not all over the country.”
Rose, who has to use a scooter to get around, did not leave the house for two months after she was banned. She takes pills for her heart and blood pressure, has spondylosis and is recovering from a hip and femur operation.
She added: “I want to leave Chester now. I am utterly depressed over it. I just want my self respect back and my character clean.”
A Mecca spokesperson said they do not comment on individual cases but added: “We can confirm that Mrs Clemson and her husband are not welcome in Mecca clubs and we have written to them to explain the reasons for this. I must stress that we do not take the decision to bar people lightly.”
