Christmas dinner for elderly in Tramore is a huge success
The Revive cafe all decked out for Christmas.
Revive Tramore, a group committed to creating a circular economy in Tramore, has created a Revive café for the elderly, which meets every Thursday in the Riverstown Community Centre in Tramore.
The group put on a full Christmas dinner for the cafe goers recently, complete with live music and a visit from Santa.
The spoke to some of the people who attended.
Angela Keoghan from Westtown said, “I like to get out every Thursday, meet people, have a laugh.”
“The food was absolutely gorgeous.”
Angela says her favourite part of the Christmas dinner is the chicken goujons.
Angela is here “every Thursday” and she brings her husband Micheal with her.
“You can play games, have food, have a chat.”
She used to work “for years” in the shop in Riverstown.
Noeline Power from Tramore said, “It’s a social event. The food is fantastic...you don’t have to cook it!”
She also brings her husband with her although she says “not enough men come to this. Once they do come, they really enjoy it.”
At over 80 years old, she says it's “great” to be able to get out and meet people.
Her advice for elderly people who might feel a bit lonely is to “get involved with your community. It's everything. You really make friends in those kinds of places.”
Frances Sinnott from Peter’s Terrace, Tramore, told the that since the café opened, she’s come every week.
She heard about the group on Facebook.
“Suzie is a brilliant person.”
Her favourite thing about the Thursday get-togethers is “meeting people I haven’t seen in years".
"There’s old friends I wouldn’t have seen much and now we can all come down and have a chat. There could be 10 of us sitting around a table, having a chat.
“There’s also free food, which anyone can take home.
“The Christmas dinner was lovely.”
The mashed potatoes are Frances’ favourite part of the Christmas dinner.
The group's founder, Susan Duffin told the a bit about what she does: “We were lucky enough to take over the community centre each week for our free café. We use the Food Cloud initiative and the Waterford Food Bank for that. We regularly have 30 – 40 members come in for a chat; it’s lovely.
When I asked Susan what inspired her to do all of this good work, she seemed confused by the question. As if ‘why wouldn’t I do it?’ Several people who overheard my question piped in, “it's her heart.”
“If you can do it, why not. We’re an ageing community around here. A lot of the kids have grown up and have moved away.
“The love I get from the people coming in. The hugs and the kisses, I almost get as many as Santa.
“They want to get out and talk to people but having to pay €15-20 for a cup of tea and a slice of cake is just not realistic. It restricts a lot of people."
Donations from Christchurch and the general public paid for the food, which was cooked by Paul Horan of Raglan Road, a popular restaurant in Tramore.
As well as enjoying a Christmas dinner, the attendees also got to meet Santa and get a little gift. Beautifully wrapped, presents included candles and beauty products. One lady received an "anti-wrinkle" serum, which resulted in raucous laughter from the table.
What made the afternoon even more special was the fact that it was all made possible because of community spirit.
“We didn’t have to buy anything; it was all given to us from the community.”
