Boom in Over-65s’ members

Nov 11 2008 by Sam Casey, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

Boom in Over-65s’ members

A SENIOR citizens’ social club that had one foot in the grave after membership dwindled is now having to turn people away.

The change in fortunes at Crosland Moor Over-65s’ luncheon club follows an appeal in the Examiner.

Evelyn Cook, who has run the club since it started 23 years ago, admitted she was close to throwing in the towel after numbers fell to about nine.

The club now has four times that many and has had to start a waiting list because of the surge in demand.

Mrs Cook, 87, said: “I think we have cracked it.

“If we can keep it up we will do all right. I just want to know it can keep on going when I’m not able to do it any more.”

The self-funding, volunteer-run club meets every Tuesday for lunch at Crosland Moor Community Centre on Park Road West.

Members pay £5 to cover tea, biscuits and food. They play dominoes, bingo and other games and go on occasional trips.

But the club started to struggle when numbers began to drop off.

Mrs Cook said: “Unfortunately 10 people died and four went into residential care and so we got to a point where we weren’t getting enough money coming in.

“I thought I’d had enough fighting for bits of money to keep going.

“I nearly gave up once or twice.

“We tried adverts and fliers in local shops but there was nothing doing. We began to get really despondent.

“The ones that came didn’t have enough money to keep us going.”

“But then someone suggested putting something in the Examiner and we got so many people coming we had to put some on a waiting list.”