DROITWICH stroke club, which has ‘changed members’ outlook on life’ through its vital service is facing closure unless more volunteers can be found by Christmas.
The club has been offering a vital social outlet to the town’s stroke survivors for 35 years with Christine Bowden acting as its chair for over two decades.
Christine and husband Eric, the club’s minibus driver and treasurer, are both retiring at Christmas and unless three new volunteers are found to replace them, the stroke club will fold.
The group currently meets at 10am every Friday at Emmanuel Church, with volunteers arriving an hour before to set up.
Each session lasts four hours and offers social activities such as skittles, quizzes and dominoes, before treating everyone to a cooked lunch at midday, tea and cake and a game of bingo in the afternoon.
Members who live in the town are picked up by Eric on the Droitwich CVS minibus.
Christine said she and Eric had been thinking about retiring for around a year now, and asked members last Christmas how they felt about the possibility of the stroke club closing down.
Members responded by saying they overwhelmingly wanted the vital service to continue.
Christine said: “As far as I’m concerned the stroke club is theirs – I felt as long as they wanted to carry on I would try to make sure this happened, but I feel it is now time to step aside.
“When we asked last year about a potential closure, one member said they wouldn’t be able to go out and socialise anywhere without the stroke club and it had changed their outlook on life.
“Everyone there has had a stroke, they’re all like-minded and it’s lovely for them to talk to people who have been through similar experiences and we don’t want that to stop for them.”
Christine added if the worst happened and the stroke club did close, the cash remaining in the account, a few thousand pounds, would be donated to Droitwich CVS to ensure it would still serve the community.
Ideally, Christine and Eric would like to bring in three replacement volunteers in November to allow them to conduct a handing-over period.
Anyone interested in volunteering should call 07922 270027 to find out more.
