OLD FOLKS' CLUB

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 237, 6 October 1945, Page 7

OLD FOLKS' CLUB

START IN AUCKLAND

BANISHING OF LONELINESS

With the object of giving hanpiness to thousands of elderly people and banishing loneliness, an Auckland branch of the Old Folks' Association has begun activities in clubrooms which have been secured. In other parts of New Zealand the idea of the association has met with great success. There is a membership of 500 in New Plymouth, where the association originated, four years ago, while branches have been formed more recently in Wellington, Hastings, Gisborne and Napier. In Auckland the need for a club where old people may meet friends and enjoy recreation is even greater, for it is estimated that there are between 10,000 and 20,000 elderly people in the city. A start has been made in the Legion of Frontiersmen rooms on the corner of Karangahape and Ponsonby Roads, the rooms being open in the afternoons from Monday to Friday. Already the club is proving highly popular. Later, it is hoped to secure central premises in the city. Requests have also been received from different suburbs regarding the formation of smaller branches.

All elderly people, whether pensioners or not, are eligible to join the association for a small membership fee. No social distinctions are made, this policy being followed in New Plymouth, where men from all walks of life, both professional and non-professional, have joined the association. There are no barriers of creed or race and the association is non-political, and non-sectarian. Miserable laving Conditions The idea originated in Auckland as a result of the splendid work carried out by the Rev. A. E. Orr at the Methodist Central Mission, in providing meals during the winter for elderly folk who had no facilities for cooking and no heating in their meagre rooms. A comfortable atmosphere, which will partly compensate for the lack of homes for these elderly people, will be provided by the club rooms. Cards, draughts and reading matter will be available and afternoon tea will probably be served by volunteer helpers. No intoxicating liquor will be allowed on the premises and there will be no gambling. Honorary membership fees will, it is hoped, build up funds for running the clubrooms. In New Plymouth the support of churches and local bodies was given unhesitatingly and a street collection day sponsored by the Mayor resulted in £1500 being raised for the purchase of a club site.

Sympathy for the cause is already .being shown by Auckland citizens, and support has been offered by individuals and organisations. The Mayor of Auckland, Mr. Allum. is the patron. Later, it is hoped that visiting committees will be set up so that sick people and others who cannot enjoy the club rooms may be visited.

An interim committee has been established with Mr. C. A. French as chairman and Mr. W. S. Currie as secretary. Mr. Currie was president of the New Plymouth Association for three years before coming to Auckland. The founder of the association in New Plymouth was Mr. A. H. Vile.

The war has thrown light on the distressing conditions in which elderly people, among thousands of others, are living. Many are widowed and alone, their children having grown up. Their need for friendly, cheerful clubrooms of thenown is great and the meeting of this need is only one of the many peacetime tasks facing the community.