The Tuesday Club

Like most good ideas, it happened by accident.

Ballintotis Community Alert facilitated an afternoon meeting at The-Two-Mile where a group of speakers informed us on the upcoming changeover to the Euro currency in 2001.

As a number of older people in particular expressed a view that it would be nice if that age group would have some way of meeting in the afternoon rather than at meetings which are held at night-time, The Community Alert picked up the vibes and ran with it.

They approached three local women. Kathleen Cosgrave , Marie McCarthy and Kay Curtin who agreed to give it a go, so that is how the Club came into being. It’s title picked itself as we meet every second Tuesday.

The Proprietors of The-Two-Mile-Inn have generously provided us with a comfortable room to meet.

We also got great help from our parent group at Community Alert who provided a board and balls to play Bingo.

We sourced a CD of gentle exercises specially designed for older people, which the entire group seem to enjoy, as it has a musical backing some are known to break into song.

We finish with a cup of tea and scone, which affords an opportunity to have a chat among ourselves. Everyone seems to relish the interaction among peers.

We don’t have any lofty ambitions or goals but are always open to suggestions

We have had some excellent guest speakers over the years.

We also have social outings. We hire a bus, twice a year, for an afternoon trip to go shopping etc. and have a meal on the way home. We join our parent group for our summer outing and the annual Christmas Dinner/Dance.

We have a lunch for our own group at Christmas at The Two-Mile-Inn

A group of musicians from Midleton come to entertain us also.

When we started we had 20-30members but sadly quite a number of them have gone to Heaven over the years.

We always welcome new members.

This is an item which appeared in the Imokilly People newspaper after our first meeting:

It’s all systems go for day two of the Tuesday club, the new social club for senior citizens, friends and neighbours in Ballintotas and surrounding areas. Many thanks to special guests’ Canon Bertie Troy, Fr. Billy O’Donovan, Cll. Mary Woods, Chairperson, Midleton UDC, Joan Russell of St. Colman’s Community College and Risteard de Bhubbh of TSB Midleton for paying us a visit on day one.

Plaudits to Kay Curtin, Kathleen Cosgrave and Marie McCarthy who have taken on the task of organising activities for the months ahead. All three deserve all our support and co-operation in their endeavours, remember it all begins again next Tuesday 29 th. January at the Two-Mile-Inn . Starting at 2.30pm. Tell your friends, neighbours and colleagues to come along