Bingo Send off for Bingo Club Owner

Mary Regan who ran three bingo clubs in Birmingham including the Plaza Bingo club, was giving a very moving send off by over 100 people that included family, friends and Musicians.

Mary had two children, six grandchildren and nine great grandchildren, and sadly died on March 13th at the age of 94. Mary was known more commonly as "Ma" by the bands she employed and she certainly seems to have lived a very fruitful life. She is linked to musicians such as the legendary Beatles, where is has been reported that she even cooked them chicken and chips and had them stay over at her house when they were playing in her home town and had nowhere to stay.

The funeral took place on Tuesday at the Oratory, and in tribute to Mary Regan, all of the Edgbaston Mourners were asked to play bingo in her honour. Ron Jordon has been the bingo caller at the Plaza Bingo Club that Mary ran for more than 20 years and he took his rightful place and called the numbers for this free bingo game.

Mary started of life as a teacher, who then turned her hand to club owner. Some of the acts on the circuit and that played in her Black County Venue Club included, The Beatles, The Animals, Brenda Lee, The Searchers, The Moody Blues, The Tremeloes, Gerry and The Pacemakers, Kinks, Manfred Mann, Dusty Springfield, Jerry Lee Lewis and Del Shannon.

The clubs that Mary ran in Birmingham, included the Plaza Bingo Club, in Handsworth, and the Ritz, which was in Kings Heath, these clubs became known as "the Regan circuit" within the industry.

At Mary's funeral her grandson Daren Howe, paid tribute to his grandmother. John Crutchley and Geoff Thompson who both played in a band called "listen", were also amongst the mourners paying their respects. Geoff, had this to say about Mary, "Doing sometimes three gigs in a night was unique to this area, and they were great times." John, who now lives in Aldridge, said: "Robert Plant was DJ here when we came to play and Ma got him in with us when our rhythm guitarist left. You could say that without Ma Regan, Led Zeppelin might not have happened."

Robert Plant went on to become the Lead Guitarist in the Led Zeppelin band.

The guy that drove all the bands around back in their heyday was Bob Bailey, and he had this to say about The Beatles: "When they played here, there was nowhere for them to stay so Ma put them up at her home in Woodbourne Road, Edgbaston."

Written by Hollie

www.unluckyforsome.co.uk