Britain has found its first ever blind bingo caller in visually-impaired ex-soldier Ray Peart, a 60-year-old from Gloucester. The former corporal lost his sight in a 1973 Belfast bomb blast. Despite his physical incapacitation, Peart has never lost sight of a desire to achieve. He found that opportunity in bingo.

After taking part in a bingo night at Gloucester's Royal Antideluvian Order of Buffaloes club, Peart made it his goal to become a bingo caller. With the help of a local charity that provides aids for the blind, Peart was able to obtain a specialized bingo calling machine fitted with a voice synthesizer. The machine works by “speaking” the called bingo numbers into Peart's ears, upon which Peart can then relay them to bingo players sitting and marking their cards in the hall.

Peart's determination to succeed despite all odds has landed him a weekly spot calling the bingo numbers in that same Gloucester club. What a splendid sight indeed.