Will 800pc room hire increase mean the end of the line for bingo club?

Members of a long-running bingo club fear their number could be up after their room hire charge was hiked by an astonishing 800 per cent.

Sunnyside Bingo Club currently pay £10 a week to use Sunnyside Community Centre for their twice-weekly sessions — described by one member as a social “lifeline” for members, many of whom are elderly and said to rely on game nights to avoid becoming isolated and lonely.

They said the club was always a “full house”, with 30 to 40 regulars paying about £5 each for 12 games of bingo and a couple of side games and playing for prizes of £3 to £4.

But they were shocked when Dalton Parish Council said they would have to pay £90 a week from next month — an increase of more than £4,000 over the year.

The Sunnyside Supplies group, which runs a foodbank and community cafe, has also been hit with a 425 per cent rise from £20 to £105 a week, which chair Cllr Emma Hoddinott said may force them to reduce their outreach activities.

The parish council said the proposed £15-an-hour rate was the standard for all groups using the centre and both the bingo club and foodbank had benefited from reduced rates until now.

But bingo club member Linda Weaver, whose grandson has started a petition against the rent rise, said she feared the club may have to fold.

“It would be such a shame if it was lost,” she said.

“We have people saying they don’t know what they’ll do if we have to finish.

“One member is 92 and we have several in their 80s. We have a laugh and a gossip and it’s absolutely fantastic.

“It is a really important social lifeline for people.”

Of the rent hike, she added: “It’s a lot of money. They’re saying it’s because of the gas and electric going up.”

Bingo caller and fellow club co-ordinator Barry Palliser received a message from the parish council saying the first payment of £90 would be due in May.

The club have written back to contest the rise — offering £20 a week instead — and started an online petition.

Barry said: “Most of the members are OAPs who live on their own and are in their 60s to 80s.

“They tell me when I go to pick them up that they don’t know what they would do without us.”

Cllr Hoddinott called the decision to hike the bingo club’s rent “outrageous” — adding: “I think the parish council have forgotten about the point of a community centre, just putting in place this blanket rate for everyone.”

Of the rise for Sunnyside Supplies, she said: “It does feel like a kick in the teeth.

“We have written to the parish council and spoken to Rotherfed, who have put in an Awards for All bid to cover the cost.

“It will be harder for the bingo club because they are a more informal group and don’t provide the same services we do.”

A parish council spokesperson said the bingo club had been charged no rent for many years and more recently been given a “substantially reduced rate”.

Explaining that the parish council would be happy to discuss the situation, they added: “The rent they have been asked to pay is £15 per hour, the rent charged to all other groups who use the centre, many of which are also essential to our community.

“The council is aware the way the rent increase has been portrayed looks like the council have been unfair. However, this is not the reality of the situation.”

The spokesperson said DPC had supported the bingo club by facilitating the opening of the group’s bank account and writing its constitution, “which specifically allows the group to apply for grant funding”, but it was unclear if they had applied for, or explored, community grants or “whether they just don’t want to pay the same rates as all other users”.

They said the costs of running the centre — which is non-profit and whose users are “heavily subsidised” — were “vast” and set to increase “drastically” again with the energy price guarantee due to end this summer.

No concerns had been raised at a meeting with volunteers last month about “bringing all user groups in line to pay the same rent”, the spokesperson said, noting that the foodbank had operated rent-free until recently and been supported with grant applications, and insisting “difficult decisions” had to be made to “ensure the sustainability of the centre and provide fairness for all our community groups”.

Visit tinyurl.com/SunnysideBingoClub to sign the petition.