Published: Wednesday, 25th June, 2008 01:00
Mayoral feast for lunch club
By Rose Harland
Comments (0)
Print Article
Mayor of Reading, Cllr Peter Beard (left) sits with Cllr Richard Molloy, mayor of Reading's twin town Clonmel, with (l-r) Dick O'Brien, Seamus McCadden and Shamus Curran standing behind.
Pic by: Andy Evans
MEMBERS of the Hibernian Lunch Club for the elderly were treated to a double mayoral visit.
Cllr Richie Molloy, from Clonmel, Reading’s twin town in County Tipperary, visited the club at the Reading Irish Centre, Chatham Street, on Friday with his borough counterpart, Cllr Peter Beard.
Their worships inspected the Centre’s redecorated downstairs bar and new kitchen and heard about plans for a ramp to the first floor from Chatham Street, to improve access and allow the club to expand its services and open every weekday.
Cllr Molloy, visiting Reading with wife Sangeeta and their children Ria, four, and Oisin, two, said: “We’ve been delighted with the hospitality we’ve received both from the mayor and his wife, and the people of Reading.
“Clonmel only has a population of 20,000, much smaller than Reading, but the friendliness of everyone here is the same.
“We visited the Carers’ Centre in Cross Street, which I was very interested in as I work for the Carers’ Association in Ireland and I would like to try and establish some links between support services in Clonmel and Reading.”
The towns have been twinned since 1994, and Reading and District Irish Association chairman Pat Power said: “It’s a great honour for the members here that the mayors took time to visit. It wasn’t on their agenda originally, but they’ve spent a considerable amount of time here.”
The improvements to the centre have been funded by donations and a £95,000 grant from the Irish government’s Dion Fund. When the ramp is completed in the autumn, the lunch club will open from 10am-4pm Monday-Friday, with regular visits from a chiropodist, pensions advice, exercise classes, and other services and entertainment.
Anne Morris, who originally founded the lunch club at English Martyrs church hall in Liebenrood Road in January 2003, said: “I just think its going to be so fantastic when the centre is open every day. It will be the place to be. I just feel so passionate about it, it makes such a difference to people who live on their own.
“They seem alright but life can be very lonely. It’s about meeting their friends and like-minded people.”
Lunch club member Peggy Feeley said: “We enjoy it very much. A lot of people don’t see anybody from one week to the next.”
Fellow member Mary Mansell added: “I’m looking forward to when it opens upstairs, that will be very good. It’s a nice club.”
The Hibernian Lunch Club meets at 1.30pm on Monday and Friday at Reading Irish Centre, Chatham Street. Lunches cost £2.50. Contact 0118 939 3096.
Further Details
