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The club bringing pensioners together at Christmas

Jenny MullinJersey
News imageBBC Pensioners sitting around a couple of long tables in a community centre hall. The table is set with paper Christmas table cloths, crackers and Christmas plates with turkey pie, roast potatoes, vegetables and gravy. Some people are smiling at the camera, others eating, and one woman is wearing an orange paper crown.BBC
Islanders from the Friendship Club at Communicare, St Brelade, having a Christmas lunch together

A Jersey community club has brought elderly islanders together to celebrate Christmas.

The Friendship Club at Communicare in St Brelade meets weekly and is made up of people who might otherwise be socially isolated. This week they were treated to a festive turkey pie with trimmings, a Christmas raffle and a visit from a choir.

Dot Slous, 86, said the Christmas lunch was "lovely as usual" and she was also delighted to take home four prizes from the raffle, including a Christmas cookie jar and "a lovely handbag - just what I need to take my presents home".

Speaking about the volunteers who organise the meet ups, she said: "They're lovely - we get spoiled."

News imageA close up of a woman with short white hair, smiling straight to the camera, sitting at a table in a community centre hall. She's wearing a blue and red Christmas woollen cardigan with a Christmas tree, a snowflake and a bear on it. Underneath she's wearing a red silky shirt and she has a red sequined bow tie around her neck. Behind her is a long table with people eating, some of them wearing paper crowns.
Dot Slous, 86, says the volunteers are "lovely - we get spoiled"

Lead volunteer Grace, who has been volunteering for the group for more than 25 years, said it was "so important" to "keep mixing with people''.

She said: "We've got a lovely bunch of people who are members, they all get on so well which is amazing because they all come from so many different backgrounds.

"The fact that they've managed to gel the way they have, it's fantastic."

News imageA close up of a man with black-rimmed prescription glasses and white hair, smiling straight to the camera. He's wearing a light grey v neck sweater and a pale blue polo shirt underneath. He's sitting in a community centre hall with wooden floors and brick walls, and behind him, to the left of the photo, there's a big green Christmas tree decorated with silver tinsel and white baubles. It has a silver star on the top of the tree.
George Nixon, 93, has been going to the weekly group since his wife died earlier this year

George Nixon, 93, said he and his wife used to attend the club together but when she got cancer and dementia she no longer wanted to go.

"She passed away in February, so I thought I'd come back here," he said.

"My son said to me, 'make sure you go somewhere social because you're on your own'."

Lorraine Murphy said she was "worried" on her first visit.

"I stood in the corner waiting before I could come in and then I did and I am so pleased because everybody's absolutely superb, you have really good meals and everybody talks," she said.

News imageTwo people looking into the camera smiling, as they hold their knives and forks in front of their Christmas dinner, as if the photo is taken before they take a bite. They are leaning towards each other affectionately. The woman, on the left, is wearing a pale pink knitted jumper with a darker pink shirt underneath. The man on the right, is wearing a red knitted v neck jumper. A white and dark blue striped shirt is underneath. They're in a community centre hall and behind them is a long table with diners and in the far background, a Christmas tree and a big silver cross on the wall.
Maurice Marie, 102, and his wife Joy, 93, enjoying turkey pie at the community centre

About enjoying another Christmas,102-year-old Maurice Marie said: "I'm a lucky young man."

He recalls putting his stocking out for Father Christmas as a child when he said they would get nuts "and a bit of coal for luck", adding: "I wasn't too bothered with the coal."

“It was all board games, you know, snakes and ladders and things like that, such happy memories," he added.

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