NCCCT Bingo – November 2013
By Margaret Sheard
On Monday 18th November, my sister and I made our monthly visit to the NCCCT Bingo which was at the new venue of Pine Bay Hotel in Alsancak. 
Unfortunately, there was a very poor turnout this month, possibly due to people not being aware of the change of venue and turning up at The Ravine, only to find it closed.
The Pine Bay Hotel was a good choice of alternative venue, with ample parking and a nice area for the supporters to sit, and with easy access to the outside area for those who wanted to have the odd “ciggie”. When we arrived we made our choice from the menu to be served at half time and decided on Fish & Chips.
Carole Lloyd was in obvious difficulties because sh
e had fractured her wrist a few days before but, being the dedicated person she is, she still insisted on carrying on with the bingo night and in actual fact she did it all that night, even the jackpot, for the first time. Luckily (or unluckily) it was the left wrist which was fractured so she was able to deal with the bingo machine – no problem!
The attendance numbers were low so Mike Alican made it up to 15 which is about the least number of people to make it worthwhile for the charity. Despite the low attendance it was a great evening in a nice venue with nice company. My sister and I must have had 2 lucky books because at one stage after having 3 almost consecutive wins, my sister got extremely embarrassed and
donated one of the wins back to the charity. I had 2 winning lines as well, and a further one that I missed calling in time, plus I had a raffle prize as well. It seems all or nothing as I hadn’t won anything in ages but that is how it goes sometimes. No-one won the rollover jackpot so this will go forward at 900TL to the next bingo night.
At half time the meal arrived and what a size it was, a huge plate of fish and chips with peas and salad, tartare sauce and bread & butter. It was far too much but beautifully presented, the batter on the fish was really crisp just as it should be, so well done the chef, we could not fault the food in any way, it was delicious. The Pine Bay Hotel had agreed to make a donation from each meal served to the charity as was done at the previous venue.
The total raised for NCCCT was 135TL, not a huge amount but still a contribution to the charity funds. Carole thanked everyone for their support and wished a Happy Christmas and New Year to all of the supporters and announced that there would not be a bingo night in December as it would be too close to Christmas so the next bingo night will be at the Pine Bay Hotel on Monday 20th January 2014. Everyone agreed that they were perfectly happy with the new venue.
