Cobh’s Community Tea Day

Every year on the first Thursday in May, groups of people all over the country get together on The National Tea Day to brew up and raise much-needed funds for the Alzheimer’s Society of Ireland.

In Cobh  on  5th May,  this year’s party is being held  at the Community Centre, Orelia Terrace from 0.00 to 2.00 pm during the day and 7.00 to 10.00 in the evening and everyone is invited, so long as they are prepared to make a minimum donation of €5.00. There will be a cake and produce sale and a raffle with excellent prizes.   The event is following on from last year’s very successful party held in her own home by Mrs Carmel Jones. Carmel was overwhelmed by the response in 2010 and so decided to book a larger venue for 2011.

The Tea Day should have an extra significance in the town this year following the revelation that Joe English from Cobh, the  round-the-world yachtsman and skipper, has early-onset Alzheimer’s diagnosed at the age of 51.

For further details contact Carmel Jones Tel 086 1650949 or Sheila Comer at Harbour Books and Music, Harbour Row, Cobh  Tel 021 4855842

Further info on Dementia/Alzheimer’s Society.

In his book ‘My Bonnie’,  broadcaster John Suchet  describes life with a partner  who is developing Alzheimer’s Disease.   He sums it up by saying  “Things start to happen, and you put them down to a simple error, a misunderstanding, a moment of forgetfulness, you even make jokes about losing your marbles.  But in reality it is the early stages of a dreadful, dreadful journey”

The Alzheimer’s tea party is a pleasant and easy way to come together and celebrate the treasured memories of the people we know and love who have travelled that dreadful journey, and to help others  who care for loved ones with the disease.  The Alzheimer’s Society of Ireland funds real, tangible, hands-on services that make an enormous difference to the everyday lives of dementia patients and their families.