Father-of-two, 46, organises game of bingo for his street on coronavirus lockdown

A father-of-two decided to lift spirits during the coronavirus lockdown by putting on a game of bingo for his entire street.

Andy Wiggins, 46, printed off dozens of bingo sheets for his neighbours and even gave out some lockdown prizes, including toilet roll, soap, rice and Prosecco.

With the help of his wife Vicki, 49, and two daughters Millie, 18, and Maisy, 13, the car leasing and contract hire boss became a bingo master for his whole street in Llantwit Major, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales.

The game was a huge success and Andy and Vicki have been swamped with messages of support. They have already planned to put on another game next week.

Andy said: ‘We were just sat here as a family and a lot of people live on the street. Some of them are older and vulnerable and have been in isolation for a while.

‘It was something we thought we could do to make people happy.

‘There are quite a few elderly people on the road and we thought we’d do a bit extra and put the bingo on.

‘It’s quite nice in these dark and uncertain times to see people coming together.’

Vicki and her two daughters printed off bingo cards and, after whacking on a pair of gloves, placed them under stones outside their neighbours’s houses to respect social distancing rules.

She said: ‘It was all Andy’s idea. He’s been working from home and on Saturday morning he said ‘let’s do bingo from the bedroom window’.

‘I thought ‘good idea, let’s go for it’.

The neighbours gathering for a game of bingo (left) and Mr Wiggins daughter Maisy (right) delivering the prizes

‘Andy is a very sociable guy. He’s a workaholic and runs a company called My Big Green Fleet but loves a party so this was his way of keeping people happy and lifting everyone’s spirits.

‘My daughter went online and printed off the bingo cards and also made a flyer for our neighbours telling them that it was going to be on.

‘We put gloves on and distributed them to our street saying it would start at 6pm.

‘Andy said we needed to have prizes so we decided to choose things which people would value in the current situation so we chose loo roll, soap, rice and prosecco.’

The family set up an amp and speaker in their upstairs bedroom window and only expected a few neighbours to join in.

But Vicki and Andy were overwhelmed when the whole street joined in to play six rounds of bingo.

Mr Wiggins calling out the numbers from his home (left) and the view to the street (right)

Maisy left the prizes outside their neighbours’s homes, after being sanitised.

Vicki said: ‘Everyone in our street joined in. People further down were shouting that they wanted to join in so we went down with gloves and left cards outside their houses so they could play too.

‘There was lots of laughing, shouting and cheering. It was a great way to raise the spirits cheerfully and also safely.’

One of their neighbours even left a bottle of Prosecco on Vicky and Andy’s doorstep to say thank you for organising the game.

Vicki said: ‘It was such a success that people have been messaging us asking to join in next week.

‘One of our neighbours even left a bottle of bubbly outside that had been sanitised for us.

‘People have even shouted thank you to us as we’ve been out walking in the morning.

‘We both just hope that it brings a smile to someone’s face and makes the week that bit more bearable for them.

‘Times are tough but we should all try and have a laugh.’