Is this Britain’s oldest bingo caller?

Mr Moss, 81

For the past decade in Suffolk, Geoff Moss has called the numbers at Molly’s Club bingo hall.

This week, the octogenarian celebrated taking his place as the hall’s bingo caller for the 500^th time.

Mr Moss, 81, is from Great Cornard, Suffolk, and every week, he is the caller at the games at the local Stevenson Centre. He has worked in this role for a decade, and today believes that he is the “oldest bingo caller in the east”.

What is interesting about Mr Moss and most certainly sets him apart from most bingo callers in this country is that he does not actually like bingo particularly. Speaking to local paper in Essex, EADT24, he said: “Personally, I think bingo is a daft game – but I enjoy doing the calling.”

However, he nevertheless gets a “great deal of satisfaction” from bringing enjoyment to the players who turn up at Molly’s Bingo Club every Tuesday afternoon.

For Mr Moss, he believes that the attributes needed to make a good caller are simply a loud and clear voice, as well as a good sense of humour.

Mr Moss has only recently left hospital after a serious operation, but he was nevertheless in his seat this Tuesday.

He does not like how the game has become increasingly politically correct.

“We can’t say two fat ladies anymore because that isn’t politically correct,” he said. “And for 26, we say ‘two and six, half a crown’ which is a bit out of date now.

“The people who come here can remember things like PC 49, from the TV show Dixon of Dock Green, and we still have some of the old favourites like ‘legs eleven’ and ‘28, duck on a plate’.”

Most of the players who attend the club are older and he believes that by coming to play there it brings much happiness to them.

“It’s mostly old people who come to the club and it’s the only time they get out to socialise,” he said.

“They can be a cheeky bunch and curse me if I don’t call out their numbers.

“But the main thing is that they get to have a chat and a laugh – that’s why I do it.”

In recent times, Mr Moss has watched as technology has entered the game. Indeed, he now has a high-tech number generating machine with a digital display to help him make his calls.

Ron Grover, who helps run the club with his wife Joan, described Mr Moss as “a very popular man”.

He said that Mr Moss “does sometimes have a tendency to make up stories about the numbers as he goes along, which can make the games go on a bit longer than we would like, and we have to hurry him up. But he’s a lovely chap and the club wouldn’t be the same without him.”