As a bank manager, Graham Wibrew had a knack for crunching numbers. Now he prefers shouting them as a bingo caller.

Graham, 47, has won a place as a regional finalist for the Bingo Caller of the Year Competition.

He will be pitting his bingo-calling skills against four others from the South of England and might go through to the national finals at the end of November.

If he wins, he can look forward to a holiday in Los Angeles and the chance to call a game in the mecca for all bingo players, Las Vegas.

Graham, who works for the Gala Club, Queensway, Crawley, said: "I think it's terribly exciting and I am looking forward to it. It means I am doing a good job and it makes me feel appreciated at the club.

"It is exciting, not only for the holiday but because it shows bingo calling is not something people can laugh at. It is a proper profession."

Graham, from Broadoak, Crawley, first got into bingo calling in the Seventies.

"I started in 1979 and did it on a part-time basis while building my career in banking.

"In 1989, I became a bank manager and had to give it up. I was lucky to be given a package from the bank during restructuring and I decided to do what I enjoy doing, bingo calling."

He originally got into calling as a way to supplement his income after having bought a house.

He had started work at a club when the caller went sick. The manager asked Graham if he would go up on stage and take over.

"I was pretty scared at first but when I got up on stage I enjoyed it so much I carried on doing it for ten years.

"I regard calling as being a bit like show business. I like to keep people entertained.

"If I can, I slip in the odd wisecrack or joke between calling. It is important. In that sort of line you want people to come back again.

"The way to get people to enjoy themselves is to create a buzz."

Graham, who is married with four children, certainly got the judges interested after he sent a video of himself at Crawley Town FC, where he is a crowd-safety steward on match days, saying rowdy football fans were no match for bingo players who had not had a win in a while.

He is now up against four other hopefuls from Wood Green, Harlow, Bournemouth and Bexleyheath who will all be fighting for the regional title in Havant later this month.

The winner will go through to compete in the national finals in London against the best callers from Scotland, Wales, the North and the Midlands.

If he wins, he will also have a chance to be an ambassador for the profession for a year.

He said: "Being ambassador for a year would be quite challenging. I don't know what it entails but I am really looking forward to it.

"Perhaps it might be my five minutes of fame."