U3A - MOTO (MEMBERS ON THEIR OWN) PENISTONE

Following the success of our centrally based MOTO we have developed one for Penistone!!

I hear people who have very active social lives say, “Oh, I'd be fine if I lost my partner; I've got golf, gardening, darts, walking, painting and lots of other things to do”. However, no one can tell them what it will be like when you walk in your house for the first time and it's empty. That feeling when you realise no one is going to come home to share your tea.

We aren't given lessons on how to live alone, we just have to cope; get on with it, they say, but is it easy? No. Thankfully, most of us have friends and family to help us cope, but not all of us. There is a vast difference between being alone and being lonely.

Recent research shows that loneliness and isolation are one of the biggest causes of death in the UK. Just because you don't see it on a death certificate, or they don't put ‘died of a broken heart because his or her partner died after forty years together’ doesn't mean it doesn't happen. D

Divorce, the death of your spouse or partner or parent or even a close friend can all create loneliness. When you find yourself alone, you can fill your weekdays but then the weekend looms, you can’t get up on a Saturday and say “Shall we pop to town, dear?”, or “Do you fancy the theatre tonight?” Sunday, there’s no one to go out for lunch with or just help you to cook it!

We have run The One Club from it's humble start and a lot of hard work, it has now evolved into one of the most successful groups in BU3A, giving its 58 members something to look forward to each month, Sunday lunch, tenpin bowling, out for tea, proms. All these things are easy if you have someone to do them with but they are not easy if you are alone and lonely.

We should never be complacent and think life can’t change because it can at the click of a finger. The U3A is all about learning and The One Club is all about LEARNING HOW TO LIVE LIFE AFTER BEREAVEMENT, DIVORCE, LOSS OF A FAMILY MEMBER OR RETIREMENT.

Some members do choose to leave and move on when they find someone to share their lives with again.