This time it is the actual wedding, which took place at the Sun Pavilion in Harrogate on Thursday 5th August 2010. I hope you agree that Melissa looked absolutely stunning. I am a very proud husband. God knows what she sees in me but I’m glad she sees it! LOL.

I am really happy to have shared this moment with all our FreeBingo players in the Wedding Room we had on the site, and with this collection of pics below. We even gave the wedding a bingo theme by having our tables named after bingo calls, and we also had wedding bingo tickets as the place cards and held a game of bingo before the main meal!

It was great fun and I hope you enjoy looking at the pics.

The Sun Pavilion

Beautiful stained glass domed roof

Navy and Ivory colour scheme looked really nice

We had no idea how to put this on. The registrar ended up doing it for me! LOL

My two best men Jason & Lee, plus my little brother Jamie

Waiting around for everyone to arrive

The bridesmaids arrive

The beautiful bride with my father-in-law Stanley

Can you guess which one is my sister, and which one is Melissa's?

I'm still waiting. Sweat pouring from my hands!

Here comes the bride, careful not to fall down the stairs

Melissa was hyperventilating at this point, I thought she may faint!

No turning back now!

I do, and all that kind of thing...

The ring bit...

Oh, I get one too? Lovely.

Kiss kiss, and it's all done and dusted.

Confetti time. Can you spot CM George?

My sister is the one on the left, Melissa's sister is holding her right hand

I was quite proud of the table plan I made, with a photo and bingo theme.

No offence to those sat on the Droopy Drawers or Two Fat Ladies tables!

I told you it was a bingo wedding.

I wrote the speech at 3.00am that day. It went down really well.

And made lots of people cry!

Edible Wayne & Melissa cake toppers!

The work colleagues table. CM George on the right!

Time for some arty black & white photos! Love this one

The rings. God I have wrinkly hands.

So nice to see my sister without a hoody on!

Bubbles!

Melissa instantly regrets having a first dance. It was your choice!

The band arrive for the reception. The Cat Pack - brilliant!

Dancing the night away.

Mr & Mrs Howe. The adventure starts here.

Toronto did all it could to try and annoy us. The traffic was horrendous, the weather was awful, the parking was expensive and the hotel stuck us in a rubbish room. This part of the trip was salvaged after buying a brolly, and a bit of complaining I managed to get a free upgrade on our room! (You really shouldn’t call something a luxury room when it resembles a travelodge basic. LOL.)

We had two nights in Toronto and then spent our final day at Niagara Falls, going behind the falls, on the maid of the mist, spending several hours at an amazing indoor waterpark before enjoying the madness of night time Niagara, complete with it’s “Blackpool on Acid” (Melissa’s description) tourist attractions lit up in neon and ending with a great fireworks display with the falls lit up. Unfortunately my camera was rubbish and you can’t see any of the night time pics of the falls, but it was nice so please trust my word on that one.

Here are my final lot of pics…

Erm... you call this a luxury room?

Now that's more like it!

City girl in her element. The bright lights of Dundas / Yonge

No matter how old I get, I still chuckle at signs like this

At the top of the CN Tower. I was not enjoying the heights!!

I can see the pub from here!

I did not like the glass floor, but Melissa loved it

That's a long way down. Are you sure this glass is safe?

I don't trust it. I'll just stay here where it's safe!

Glad to be back on the ground. I need a beer!

The final day. Niagara Falls!

Not a bad view to have with your lunch.

Very long and boring wait in the tunnel behind the falls

Now that's more like it!

All aboard the famous Maid of the Mist

American Falls

Horseshoe Falls

Slightly wet

24 hours later and we were back home, absolutely shattered but with a ton of great memories. What an adventure!

Here are some more pics from part two of our honeymoon in Canada. After our 6 nights in Vancouver, we hired a car and set off towards the Canadian Rockies. We broke the drive up by stopping at a waterpark, then a night in the wilderness of Lac Le Jeune, before reaching Jasper via a quick detour to Wells Gray National Park to see some waterfalls. After 2 nights in Jasper we headed to the beautiful Lake Louise, and then Banff before flying out from Calgary to our final stop in Toronto.

The great outdoors is where I am in my element, having done Geography at University I absolutely loved this part of the trip. We went up mountains, swam in lakes, climbed on a glacier, paddled a canoe and saw lots of amazing scenery and wildlife, including several bears! I didn’t get a pic of the bears as I was driving at the time, but I took plenty of other pics. Here are some of the best bits from the Rockies…

First stop, the appropriately named Bridal Falls Waterpark!

Overnight stay in the wilderness of Lac Le Jeune. Quiet and Beautiful.

Although I had to share a bed with this guy...

I moose stop to have a drink

Helmcken falls at Wells Gray Provincial Park.

The first mountain we came to was also the biggest - Mount Robson

It's mountain time - prepare to travel up the Jasper Tramway

Going up...

Almost there...

OK, now you can get out and walk the rest of the way!

We made it! Check out the footwear in which this was achieved!

These "inukshuk" stone piles we found all over Canada

I had a go, but mine fell over as soon as we left.

This one was my favourite

After a hard day's climb, a relaxing swim in a beautiful lake

Guided hike onto the Athabasca Glacier. COLD!

Don't fall in!

Nice hat

Some random guy taking his dog for a walk on a glacier!!

Bottom of the glacier. We took an empty bottle and filled it up, it was refreshing!

The amazingly beautiful Moraine Lake. Just stunning.

Moraine Lake again, without us spoiling the view!

Canoeing on the beautiful Lake Louise.

I think we better head back now!

Relaxing in the warmth of Banff Upper Hot Springs

Civilisation! Shops! Melissa is overjoyed to find Banff is a bustling little town.

With some great book stores!

The final part of our journey, Toronto & Niagara Falls coming soon…

It was so amazing it is difficult to describe in words, but luckily I took lots of photographs so you can see for yourself just what it was like. I know I should probably put wedding pics on here first, but I’ve only been home one day and the photographer is on holiday so it will be a little while before we get them, but I will at some point!

As you may have guessed, the trip to Canada played it’s part in inspiring our new Canada 75 ball bingo room, which I hope you have enjoyed. I encourage everyone if they can do so in their lifetime give this great country a visit, it is well worth the extremely long flight!

Here are some pics from our first week in Vancouver, British Columbia.

CM Wayne at Canada Place, Vancouver

Lunch at Vancouver Lookout revolving restaurant

China Town: Dr Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden

Melissa tries Chinese calligraphy

CM Wayne tries Chinese calligraphy!

Up the gondola to the summit of Grouse Mountain

Hmmm, it's a little bit misty up here!

Chair lift into the unknown

CM Wayne on the ziplines

Absolutely amazing ziplines between two mountains!

Ziplining through the clouds

More ziplines!

The lumberjack show was surprisingly fun and entertaining

Koola the bear (we did also see wild bears as we drove through the Rockies)

Stanley Park - Lots of big trees!

and furry creatures!

Setting off on a sunset dinner cruise!

Sunset over Vancouver Harbour

Just to prove we are in Canada...

Vancouver at night from the boat

Capilano Suspension Bridge

CM Wayne & Melissa on the bridge!

That bridge (in background) was pretty high, and very wobbly!

CM Wayne looking fashionable

Mr & Mrs Howe discover an appropriately named street!

I can see some killer whales!

Where?

Oh there they are!

It's time to leave Vancouver and drive through the Rockies

Do you think we're going the right way?

More pics of our honeymoon adventure coming soon! Time to get back to work…

I also used the opportunity of the new changes to get rid of some of the bingo rooms that I had viewed as being the most unpopular rooms on the site – Yellow Room and Blue Room.

I studied the player numbers using this room, which was relatively low compared to the more popular rooms such as Dabbers Only and Speed Bingo. I also considered that these rooms had no unique selling point, i.e. they were simply 90 ball bingo, no extra jackpots, no chat games, no tournaments, plain and simple designs… basically nothing out of the ordinary to encourage players to go in these particular rooms. Therefore I felt at the time these rooms would not be missed, and that the players would move to one of the many other and varied bingo rooms to play their games.

The response I received from players when the rooms closed demonstrated that in fact, I had failed to see that these rooms did have a unique selling point – being quiet was why these players enjoyed those rooms.

One thing I pride myself on is being able to talk to our players, having the ability listen to what they have to say, and to act upon those ideas if they are good ones. I have no problem with criticism, so long as it is constructive, and in this instance it was very much so and led to a re-imagining of the Yellow and Blue rooms.

The re-curring comment among the players was they liked having somewhere they could “chill out”, and because the players were not in their dozens and dozens, the chat was easier for them to read and join in. I therefore took this idea and re-branded the rooms under the category of “Chill Out Bingo”.

They also liked the simple designs in these rooms, so there was no point creating a whole new design, but I did want there to be an impression of change and a reason for being there. This is why we opted to alter the names of the rooms to “Mellow Yellow” and “Cool Blue”, further emphasising that these rooms are for more quiet and relaxing games.

I have lots of new rooms and things planned for the site in the coming weeks and months, but I promise I will not be taking away any more of the rooms to make way for them… at least for now! LOL (I’m joking)

I am CM Karen. I started working for FreeBingo.co.uk on Tuesday 6th July 2010.

Previously I worked as a dental nurse for 2 months, this I didn’t really enjoy. I then came across this job, which so far I am loving! Meeting fantastic people all the time, and the office staff are really nice and helpful too.

Before I was doing the dental nursing I was a CM working for Virtue Fusion. The site I worked on mainly was Virgin Bingo. So if any of you are or were members, I was also CM Karen on there. I did this for just short of 2 years. I there also met a lot of great people and I’m glad I can also CM and meet people all the time here on FreeBingo.

I have one older brother and one twin sister. I have one nephew and one neice too, they are both my sisters. I see them all, all the time! You’d never think kids were so funny but they are!

My first week here at FreeBingo.co.uk has been great. I have done all sorts already. I just cant wait now to be able to do everything and stop pestering Wayne “whats ya plans for me today” lol. But as I work next to him and helping him out I suppose it will always be a popular question. If he is grey in a few months guys, honestly its not me! It’s the new married life!

I enjoy doing Prize Hour on a Mon Wed Fri, the good thing is with me, I get your prizes out faster then the previous slackers..oops I mean CM’s! LOL. Organisation springs to mind.:P I have enjoyed everything so far. Everyone is great. CM’s, Roomies, Office staff, CH’s! Your all great and every so welcoming.

Looking forward to meeting a lot more of you and working with you.

Karen xxxxxxxxxxxxx

I have just returned to the UK following a brilliant stag trip to Madrid with my friends Anthony, Jason, Mark, Rashpal, Raj, Dicko, James and Ian. We decided to hit Madrid as my good friend Juan (voice of our Spanish bingo room) lives out there.

The weather was fantastic and most of us have come home sunburnt following our last day spent at a waterpark with very little suncream applied. Oops!

It was not your usual stag do madness, with no being stripped naked and tied to a lamp-post or being forced to wear a woman’s dress, although with the UK leg still to come I’m not sure if I’m totally safe in this regard. lol.

Madrid is a beautiful city and the food was fantastic, although I don’t think any of us will be eating at a tapas restaurant anytime soon as we’ve had so many! We had lots of laughs, lots of cervezas (beers) and watched lots of the World Cup games (shame on England for ruining our Friday night). We had a trip to the Bernabeu stadium which was really awe-inspiring and discovered a lovely park called Retiro which had a big lake with rowing boats.

On the last night we went to the waterpark and then to Alcala which is where Juan lives to watch the Spain v Honduras game with the locals. It was a great atmosphere as Spain won 2-0 but we didn’t stay long as the smoking ban is not yet in Spain and our eyes were stinging from the smoke after 90mins! lol.

After a long journey home (less said about easyjet the better) I am back refreshed and ready for more FreeBingo fun for the month ahead. I know you all like a nosey so here are some pics from Spain.

Enjoying tapas and cervezas with Juan on our first night in Madrid

Juan, Wayne and Dicko (the best man) enjoying a cerveza

I'm not sure about these new shades

Dicko falls in love with the flower seller

3 euros for 1 litre of beer!

Wayne at the Bernabeu Stadium

Real Madrid FC

Wayne, Mark and Raj - the new management team of Real Madrid

Jose Mourinho unveils his new signings from Liverpool

Spot the scousers. In the Irish bar to watch the England v Algeria game

Rashpal is strung up by a violinist

Wayne at Retiro Park

The lads working off their hangovers in the park

Row, row, row your boat...

Our favourite bar in Madrid - Yambala

I bloody hate this hat. I was forced to wear it everywhere!

Ian, king of posers

I wonder what Jim is hiding under the sombrero?

Fun at the waterpark (Wayne far right going down backwards lol)

Poolside - Wayne, Mark, Ian, Rashpal, Jason & Dicko

Her prize, hotel accomodation in London and two tickets to a VIP screening of Sex & The City 2.

The screening took place over the bank holiday weekend. Here is Lassss’ report from her day out in London.

Hiya Wayne,

I have sent you the only photo’s that I managed to take lol. Wasnt much opportunity to take many.
The story goes………

I went to my sister Alice’s house and left my car there, and we headed to the train station.
We arrived at Wigan train station only to have a bit of a nightmare, my overnight trolleybag snapped at the handle, great start to the day lol.

On arrival at Euston, it was only about a 5 min walk to the hotel Ambassador Bloomsbury (which I am glad about seeing as I was carrying my case under my arm lol). We checked into the hotel, which was quite nice, we freshened up a bit then went for a walk. We seemed to walk for miles and only came across bars and cafes lol. The area was really busy with visitors dragging along their trolley bags and suitcases. We stopped and had some dinner at pizza hut then made our way back to the hotel. We had a couple of hours relaxing before getting ready for the big night out.

We were being picked up to go to the theatre at 19.40, so we all met outside the hotel awaiting our transport, imagine our surprise when up pulled an old London red bus with destination sex & the city on the front lol. I was expecting Cliff Richard to jump out and burst into song.

We arrived at the Screen on the Green Islington and were greeted by the hosts from mecca, we were then ushered into the theatre along our very own red carpet, awaiting us inside were cocktails and canapes, and a ‘free’ bar lol. Reaching our seats we had little goody bags waiting for us, with a DVD of sex & the city, a bottle of wine, ferrero rocher, and a lipstick. The only thing we had to pay for was raffle tickets if you wanted any. The raffle was drawn before the start of the film, with all the proceeds going to marie curie, they reached a brilliant target of just under £300, all for a good cause.

I was rather surprised when I won first prize in the raffle lol, £200 in mecca vouchers to spend online (means I got to make an account now lol)

The film was brilliant, and we had an absolutely brilliant evening, the turn out was really good as well, I would say there must have been about 50 people there.

We said our good byes at about 11.30pm outside the theatre and caught our ‘red bus’ back to the hotel, many of the people went into the bar to finish the evening off. Myself and my sister went straight to bed lol, we were shattered, and my feet were killing, I’m not used to wearing heels lol.

After our breakfast we went for another stroll and then headed to the station to make our way back to reality, typical bank holiday weekend, Euston station was packed to bursting, and so was the train home, we had the luxury of being upgraded to first class because the train was so overbooked lol.

I was asked if I had ever considered becoming a paid CM, and if I was interested to send them an email lol, I politely declined saying I was very happy at Freebingo

Well thats all I can tell you except that we really did have a great time, and I am so glad that I took my sister with me, she deserved it with everything that she has just gone through, and it was lovely to have a girly/sisterly weekend. xxxx

Thanx
Ann xxx

Allan002 before setting off for the marathon

Allan02 completed the race in 7 hours and 9 minutes, despite dislocating his knee half-way through! He bravely carried on through the pain, although he now admits he may now need to have an operation.

Speaking via the FreeBingo Facebook page, Allan002 said,

“Hi guys I’m in such pain it’s hard to describe! I dislocated my left kneecap after 13 miles but I carried on for another 13.1 miles and completed the race for my charity. I went to the doctors this morning and I’m getting referred to the hospital as I might need to have another op on my knee.”

We are all very proud of Allan002 here at FreeBingo, and also of our Edinburgh based player Jojo310 who kindly put Allan002 and angel06 (who are based in Liverpool) up for the weekend and looking after them both during their stay in Scotland. It just goes to show what a great bunch of people there are here in our free bingo rooms.

If you wish to help Allan002 raise even more money for the Children’s Trust, you can make a donation via http://www.justgiving.com/Allan-Tweedle

It’s not the first time Foxy Bingo have been out and about, putting on fun events for their players. I know they’ve done a few bingo cruises here and there, and I remember a strictly all-female event a while back with male strippers involved which I didn’t pay too much attention to for obvious reasons. LOL.

But when they announced they were to hold a big party in Blackpool, I wondered if perhaps they had inspiration from something we did back in October… I just wonder…