As shopping malls have threatened local high street shops but are themselves currently threatened by on-line shopping with door-to-door deliveries (soon, apparently, to be carried out by drones), so bingo halls took over cinemas only to be themselves endangered by, of all things, gospel churches. For example, the Woolwich (London) Granada, a splendid art deco building with an interior designed by Russian set designer Theodore Komisarjevsk, was turned into a Bingo hall only to be changed into a gospel church. The former Cinema is now known as the Ebenezer Building or Cathedral of Christ Faith Tabernacle.
Woolwich has another fine art deco cinema, the Odeon, which now too has been transformed into a Gospel ‘New Wine’ church. The transition from cinema to spiritual centre was direct, without any Bingo hall intervention. At least the building still stands as a supreme example of modernist architecture – Sandra and I were part of the committee to safeguard its future and, indeed, saw the last film to be projected there: James Cameron’s 1997 ‘Titanic’.
No such transformations have affected Fornoli’s parish hall: it has unswervingly served the local community for many a year as a community centre. It was, therefore, with pleasure that we participated in a Bingo afternoon with my wife Sandra’s mum, who is now just two years short of her hundredth birthday.
The hall has a built-in Bingo display which still operates (although a couple of the lights weren’t working). We spent a storm-ridden afternoon playing the game which in Italy is known as ‘Tombola’.
Tombola/Bingo, incidentally, was born in the city of Naples in the 18th century. According to tradition it was created in 1734 as a result of a discussion between King Charles of Bourbon and Father Gregorio Maria Rocco for a game which could lead to friendly family-style gambling and would not interfere with ecclesiastical edicts.
Although we didn’t ‘tombola’ on any game and win one of the various prizes which ranged from pasta to pesto, we had great fun. Even more we were able to partake of a veritable feast in the shape of the ‘rinfresco’ at the end of a slightly mentally-challenging afternoon in which I almost ‘gave numbers’. This phrase, in Italian is ‘dare i numeri’, means that one is seriously in danger of losing one’s trolley!
The truth, however, is that, when Italians say ‘giving the numbers’, they are referring to those who interpret the cabal to try to guess the future through numbers, letters, dreams or through the intercession of supernatural beings. Unhappily, wizards, astrologers and aspiring prophets try to define human and universal facts with predictions that often turn out to be unsuccessful. It is, therefore, very common for sorcerers to advise those (willing to pay the) on how to get a little luck, and play the lottery. Unfortunately, the numbers sold are far from being the winning ones!
However, we did win in the end! The great and magnanimous Marco Nicoli, chair of the Mammalucco association who organises such events, gave Sandra’s mum the opportunity of extraction the winning lottery number and, moreover, presented her with a lovely marigold!
