It might be slightly overstating the case to say Drax Wednesday Club is a “gateway to heaven” (27), but it is a wonderful social gathering for the 100 or so people who regularly meet there – and it has recently got even better with the arrival of a new bingo machine.
The Wednesday Club meets each month at the village hall and is open to anyone wanting to socialise, from older people to mothers with babies.
It is the brainchild of Tracey Longden, who began the club six years ago after leaving her job as a teaching assistant at Drax Community Primary School. Since then, it has gone from strength to strength.
The club is open to all ages and attracts people from the villages of Drax, Drax Newland and Long Drax, as well as further afield.
At its heart are a meal – hot lunches like pie and peas or carvery alternating with afternoon tea – followed by bingo, a quiz, raffle and entertainment.
“We have invested a lot of time and effort in the club and have a lot of volunteers who come to help,” said Mrs Longden. “We won’t turn anyone away, so we have residents from local elderly people’s homes to new mums who bring their babies. We have a right mixture.”
But enjoying the bingo to the full was a problem for some attendees who struggled to hear in the village hall.
Enter the member for Camblesforth and Carlton, Cllr Mike Jordan, who provided £400 from his locality budget to buy a bingo machine and a catering trolley to help with the distribution of meals. Each of the council’s 90 members is allocated an annual budget of £10,000 to enable them to support local projects.
The new machine shows the number called, plus previous numbers, in lights, so no players risk missing a call of “house!”.
“I used to have to shout all the time,” said Mrs Longden. “The machine has made a huge difference immediately. Quite a few of the players watched it to see the numbers when we first used it at our October meeting.”
Previously, Cllr Jordan has used his locality budget to support the village hall, to create a warmer, more appealing venue for its users.
“The Wednesday Club is absolutely brilliant,” he said. “It is a get-together for some of the elderly people and people who live on their own and allows them to have a good chat and singsong and generally have a great time. Everybody thoroughly enjoys themselves and it raises community spirit. I love them all to bits.
“The bingo machine has made life a lot simpler for Tracey.”
As well as its monthly activities, the Wednesday Club organises several trips away each year. One to Wales is coming up in December, and previous excursions include Torquay and the Isle of Wight.
Anyone who would like to attend the club or find out more about joining the volunteers can call Mrs Longden on 01757 618576.