{"id":454871,"date":"2025-09-27T08:05:14","date_gmt":"2025-09-27T08:05:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/454871\/"},"modified":"2025-09-27T08:05:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-27T08:05:14","slug":"the-great-gran-who-gets-chauffeured-to-bongos-bingo-by-limousine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/454871\/","title":{"rendered":"The great-gran who gets chauffeured to Bongos Bingo by limousine"},"content":{"rendered":"

98-year-old Anne Gandy has an MBE for services to her community98 year old Anne Gandy at Bongos Bingo(Image: Liverpool Echo)<\/p>\n

She may be nearing 100, but Liverpudlian Anne Gandy MBE – mother of four, grandmother of seven and great grandmother of four – is showing no signs of slowing down.<\/p>\n

So fiercely independent she scarcely lets anyone make a cup of tea for her, Anne marked her 98th birthday with a noisy day event with scantily clad dancers, wild shenanigans and ear thumping music<\/a> – but it’s business as usual for the Walton legend.<\/a><\/p>\n

Anne, who sat wrapped in a red jumper speaking to the Liverpool Echo<\/a>, said bingo is a regular part of her life. Anne is a regular at nearby bingo halls throughout the week, but it’s not until the famous Bongo’s Bingo<\/a> events rolls around that she gets grooving and shaking.<\/p>\n

Anne’s first visit to the wild halls of Bongo’s Bingo <\/a>was for her 90th birthday. Anne told the ECHO<\/a>: “My granddaughter was talking about it and I asked if I could go too and I haven’t stopped. Bongo’s Bingo is different.<\/p>\n

“My daughter told me it’s loud and more friendly so I thought that would be nice. When you go to bingo you’re sat down and talking to your friend. At Bongo’s Bingo you can talk to anyone and have a dance.”<\/p>\n

Anne stands by the stage to make sure she has the best space but reassured us that she’d rather be in the middle of the action. Regardless, she’s up and dancing as much as possible, so much that she’s been on stage a number of times with the professionals.<\/p>\n

Anne, who refuses to let anyone even make her a cup of tea due to her proud independency, added: “I’ve won quite a few times. I actually won a mobility scooter and I’ve never used it. What would I use that for? I would’ve had the karaoke machine.”<\/p>\n

Anne Gandy MBE (Image: Liverpool Echo)<\/p>\n

The Gandy matriarch is joined by her family at the events, with the day out a multigenerational excursion. Anne added: “I will speak to anyone so it’s nice to meet people.”<\/p>\n

Her daughter Donna Pitman told the ECHO: <\/a>“When she’s out and about, you can’t get people away from her. We’re going to the day time show next, but she wanted to go out for the night!<\/p>\n

“They’re all dancing with her. She likes going because it’s full of young people and it keeps her feeling young and active.”<\/p>\n

Quizzed on what her peers think of her nightlife antics, Anne said: “They’re not really interested. They’re years younger than me but they’re frightened to go.”<\/p>\n

A knock on Anne’s Walton door came from her carer, Mandy Evans, who has been helping around the house for a few months. Mandy told the ECHO:<\/a> “She won’t let you do anything for her. She’s so independent. I’ve never met anyone like her in my whole life.<\/p>\n

“She won’t let you make her a cup of tea, she won’t let you make her breakfast. She’s so independent.” Anne added: “I am, yeah.”<\/p>\n

Anne refuses to sit at peace even on her days off. You’ll see her popping to the shops or stepping outside for fresh air, so much so she’s been tagged. Donna added: “She goes out that much we’ve had to put a tag on her keys so we know where she is!”<\/p>\n

While Anne was busy stealing sneaky chocolate bars from Mandy and waving to people outside of the window, Donna gave us a quick rundown of her phenomenal career and why she’s become such a local legend – or Aunty Anne to most of her neighbours.<\/p>\n

98 year old Anne Gandy MBE at Bongos Bingo(Image: UGC)<\/p>\n

Anne was born in Everton, but her family moved to Walton<\/a> when she was nine \u2013 and she has lived there ever since. She has kept active all of her life and never truly retired, admitting the thought never appealed to her.<\/p>\n

In 1970, she began looking after children at a playgroup based in the Walton<\/a> Youth Centre in Heathcote Road. Since 1990, she\u2019s acted as a host mother to countless foreign students of all nationalities studying at the Liverpool School of English on Mount Pleasant, Liverpool.<\/p>\n

Anne has looked after generations of children attending playgroups in the area, having started doing so nearly 50 years ago. In 2007, she received her MBE for services to the community in Walton<\/a>, admitting: \u201cI didn\u2019t know what it was, and asked the rector to look at it. He said \u2018You\u2019ve got an MBE!\u2019 I said \u2018What for?'”<\/p>\n

Anne also received the royal treatment from Bongo’s Bingo creator, Jonny, who hired a private limousine to drive her from Walton to the show.<\/p>\n

Some of her favourite songs include Billie Jo Spears’s ‘Blanket On The Ground’ and George Ezra’s ‘Shotgun’, which painted a smile across her face when mentioned.<\/p>\n

Anne will be back out and on the dance floor to celebrate her 98th birthday, with a costume and ears at the ready for the Disney-themed event. As she approaches 100, we asked Anne if she ever intends to rest and put her feet up. She said “What would I stop for?”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"98-year-old Anne Gandy has an MBE for services to her community98 year old Anne Gandy at Bongos Bingo(Image:…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":454872,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8815],"tags":[748,393,4884,179,455,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-454871","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-liverpool","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-liverpool","12":"tag-real-life","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115275230646347024","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=454871"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454871\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/454872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=454871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=454871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=454871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}