ADCA Tuesday Club Visit

Audlem and District Community (in) Action Tuesday Day Club

As I get older I don't want people thinking 'What a sweet little lady', I want them saying 'Oh crap, what's she up to now!' Also all women over 45 are really Goddesses and should be worshipped daily.

However, truth be told, I get most of my exercise these days by just shaking my head in disbelief. Don't judge me, I was born to be awesome, not perfect, and there are still those few rare occasions when my underwear matches, mistakingly making me feel that I am still compos mentis.

I've been forewarned about ageing by friends who explain that 'getting a little action' now means the prune juice is probably working and the fact that I have now started turning out the light for economical rather than romantic reasons leads me to feel I need reassurance about these so called 'Golden Years', even though I realise if we live long enough we are revered – rather like an old building!

We all want to be happy, but for many of us, happiness is an elusive, fleeting state that we can capture only for a brief moment.The truth is almost all of our forward momentum is driven by the pursuit of happiness. Even the desire to socialise and connect with other human beings is driven by our desire to be happy.

With this in mind, I decided to case out the ADCA Tuesday Day Club to see if unobtrusively, some of them are secretly making the most of those opiate based medications and having a right old time!

I needed to seek out truths; are there any benefits to getting older? Am I ready to join their ranks ( normally I would refuse to join any club that would have me as a member )?
Do they get served health foods as I feel at our age we need all the preservatives we can get!

Also, and I think I have said this before, alcohol is a much misunderstood vitamin which needs to be taken on a daily basis to ensure tip top results and I duly noted that The Shroppie is in a direct line to the ADCA meeting room so a tunnel under the football field isn't beyond question? Must speak to Ralph..........

I decided to case out the kitchen first and meet the chef, Helen Dovey, Audlem's very own Mary Berry. She's the only person I have met who looks attractive in Chef's whites as she flits around the kitchen with the utmost ease!

Helen is one of life's unsung heroes who works meticulously on the sidelines, hidden in her galley, never ever complains – I checked – and is always there at 8.00 am to start prepping and cooking her freshly made nutritiously balanced meals. She is totally focused on her work and plans menus four weeks in advance, putting me to shame as I still struggle to decide which microwave meal we're having for dinner each day!

Helen is responsible for all the Tuesday Club lunches, as well as the Wednesday Lunch Club in Hankelow, and describes herself as 'someone who loves to nourish people'. She caters and produces vegetarian, diabetic and gluten free meals, with consummate ease.

The club members know better than to bite the hand that feeds them, and on today's menu was Bobotie, the South African national dish, followed by fruit crumble and custard – my favourite pud!

Food is our common ground, a universal experience.  One of the members told me, "you're never too old to learn new tricks" and Helen enables them to take an epicurean cruise of the world without them even leaving their chairs – which for some could be a Herculean task in itself!

Up to now I've thought that there's no better feeling in the world than a warm pizza box on my lap. After tasting Helen's food I may have to change my mind.

Dragging myself away from the kitchen, I entered the hallowed premises of the Tuesday Day Club. Imagine my delight to see empty sherry glasses strewn around. Pre lunch sherry? Now that's my sort of club!

There was something unusual about the clubs' lunchtime atmosphere. I soon became aware that there were 24 people, male and female, sat around tables, merrily eating and chatting with no mobile phones in sight! These Tuesday lunch club members obviously knew that putting your phone away and paying attention to those talking to you is an app called RESPECT!

I introduced myself to two amazingly busy and committed ladies. Tracey Humphries, the ADCA Coordinator and her trusty side kick Lynn Morear, the ADCA Assistant Coordinator.

These dedicated ladies are responsible for the smooth running of the club as well as churning out an endless variety of fresh ideas for all the fun and games that the members participate in, before lunch, to build up their appetites and post lunch, to challenge their sportsmanship!

Some of these ideas come with hidden benefits for group fitness, as we all know that what you eat in private will show up in public. One exercise activity appeared to entail members doing strange things with elastic – I didn't enquire too deeply into that!

Pre lunch the members had been involved in a game of Boccia. Boccia is a perfect inclusive sport, allowing people of all ages and abilities to take part and I have no doubt as I got to know the members that competition had been fierce and had built up their appetites!

Life is meant to be enjoyed, not just endured, and Tracey and Lynn strive to ensure this happens. Today's afternoon activity was Bingo! Neil Morear, Lynn's husband, duly arrived with a set of Bingo equipment looking every inch the professional. He took his position seriously, clearly shouting out the numbers in a slow, but measured way so that everyone could hear.

Silence reigned, heads were down, minds were concentrating and pens poised. Apart from the odd wrong call – easily done -the next hour and a half was filled with joyous enthusiasm and high spirits. Prizes were beautifully displayed on the seat of someone's walker – why waste the equipment you already have – and the afternoon closed with many happy winners.

The smooth running of the Tuesday Day Club is reliant on many volunteers who willingly give up their time to pick up and drive members to the annexe and return them home.

Volunteer helpers assist Helen prepping in the kitchen and work with Tracey and Lynn serving meals and clearing up as well as ensuring the chiropodist, who attends the club every few weeks, has her appointments strictly adhered to. There are probably a million and one other acts which they all perform but which I didn't see.

Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around. Tuesday Day Club members epitomise the fact that the spirit never ages. It stays forever young. Three times members whom I spoke to said the club was a "lifeline" for them.

Volunteers are the ultimate exercise in democracy and the ADCA volunteers are a fine example of the Audlem community spirit in action: local people helping to provide the "lifeline" which is so important to those Tuesday Day Club members, enabling them to keep socially active by meeting with other locals, helping to maintain their independence and improving their health and wellbeing.

We vote in elections but when we volunteer we vote every day about the kind of community we want to live in. We would do well to remember that Noah's Ark was built by volunteers and The Titanic by professionals and that didn't turn out so well did it?

I would like to thank ADCA for allowing me to attend one of their sessions, Tracey and Lynn who allowed me to 'case the joint ', the helpers who carried on regardless of my presence and all the members who gave permission for their photos to be printed, especially the gentleman who insisted on putting his front tooth in for the photo – he knows who he is!

The Tuesday Day Club is only one of the activities that ADCA is involved in.

If you know the selfless, rewarding life of caring for another person, then you also know how heavy things can get. Kindness can transform someone's darkest moments with a blaze of light, just a show of support can help people rise above caregiver burnout, and ADCA are able to organise beneficial carers' breaks to ease their burdens.

For further information check out their website. adca.audlem.org

Afterthought;

As I watch this generation try to rewrite history one thing I'm sure of.....it will be misspelled and have no punctuation.