If you’re a senior, Linda Dearman, chairperson of the Thompson Seniors Community Resource Council, wants you to participate in the organization.
“For seniors, loneliness is a big deal,” she said. “I’ve been retired five or six years now. You have coworkers, you may have made some friends, but when you retire, you’re not seeing your coworkers. There are some people who go back into work. It used to be that everyone moved out of town, so we lost those friends. We are trying to get people involved with the Seniors Community Resource Council because many seniors don’t know that we exist.”
Thompson’s demographics have changed over the past few decades.
“When I first moved here 30 years ago, there was no grey hair,” Dearman said. “I was probably two or three years [at her job] before someone came in with grey hair. As soon as people retired from the mine, they left. Now seniors are approximately 11 per cent of Thompson’s population.”
Dearman says the council is busy, year-round, with activities.
“Tuesdays we have the senior lunch at Rotary Place, which is cheap,” she said. “We have Lee Pickett who is the co-ordinator. His wife Donna is the cook. We can have up to 25 people come and eat, but the numbers fluctuate. The meals are $7.”
The council also hosts a social time on Thursdays at 1 p.m. at Rotary Place.
“Come and do whatever,” she explained. “You can knit. There’s Scrabble. There are puzzles. Whatever interests you.”
Dearman said there’s usually a bus trip in August, which serves as the council’s yearly highlight.
“The bus fare is paid for,” she said. “You have to pay for your hotel and your meals. Our last trip was to Moose Jaw. There’s a spa there, which I thought was kind of neat because you can go from inside in the pool, walk through a tunnel, and be outside. People really enjoyed that. We got a special seniors rate, and there’s a casino with it. There was stuff to see and shopping. Then we went to see the RCMP training school in Regina. They were doing some marching. We also went to a church with stained glass. I just love stained glass.”
To get involved with the Thompson Seniors Community Resource Council, call resource co-ordinator Lee Pickett at 204-307-5181.
