Mel's £62,000 full house (From Gazette & Herald)

Mel's £62,000 full house

SUPERMARKET manager Mel Rogers got a surprise retirement day gift at the weekend - a £62,000 bingo win.

Just hours before he was due to officially to retire as a grocery manager at Tesco in Scarborough, Mr Rogers, 59, of Staxton, won more than £62,000 at the resort's Mecca Club in Albemarle Crescent.

He won £50,000 in the National Bingo Game plus a further regional prize of £12,642 and a club prize of £179. The national prize was £100,000, but he had to share it with a woman in Falkirk, Scotland, who also completed a 'full house' in 39 numbers.

"It was only the second time I had been to the bingo with my wife - I couldn't believe my luck!"

Mr Rogers and his wife Barbara, a medical secretary at Scarborough Hospital, have three children.

"We are sharing the money 50-50 with our friends, Eric and Janet Utley of Scarborough. We agree to share anything any of us may win. The money couldn't have come at a better time. I put in for early retirement three months ago and now I can pay off the mortgage which will make life easier living on a pension."

Updated: 10:13 Thursday, September 20, 2001