Friends who have met weekly at same pub for 56 years say it cures loneliness
Watch: Group of pals have met up at the pub for a pint every Thursday - for 56 years
A group of men have shared how they've kept loneliness at bay by meeting at the same pub for a pint every Thursday for 56 years.
The friends, who are all aged between 78 and 83, have visited The White Swan in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, for their weekly catch-up since 1968. And although they say their conversations have switched from "soccer and sex" to "pensions and prostates", they have religiously stuck to the "invaluable" tradition.
Peter Thirlwall, 78, says he inadvertently helped found the weekly meet-ups when he started going for a pint with his neighbour, Paul Haynes, after rounds of golf. The group later grew to include seven core members, which include Bill Munden, Ken King, Brian Ayres, Dick Cotton, and Mick Sorby.
Now a grandad of five, Peter said he "could not imagine" his life without the regular pub sessions, which allow the men to share any concerns they have.
"If you're a solitary man who just comes home from work, watches TV and goes back to work, you have nobody to talk to about any of your innermost worries," he explains. "Whereas, we can talk to the lads and say, ‘By the way, does this happen to you?’ And they’ll say, ‘Yeah!'. We’re never, ever short of a conversation."
While they say the topic of their discussions has shifted somewhat, the group say they love having other men to share things with. "Everybody talks about their ailments," Peter continues. "How many times they get up in the night to have a pee. I just couldn’t imagine my life without the Thursday nights."
Grandad of four Bill Munden, 78, who went to school with Peter, says the only rule among the group is that their wives can not attend. "We do meet up altogether socially as a group, but Thursday nights are boys only." Peter believes the weekly meet-ups have helped keep the group young. "We're tittering with laughter in the pub, and sometimes it's a bit of an uproar and we have to be told to shush as we're making a bit of a racket."
Peter says the group have maybe only missed two dozen of the weekly sessions during the more than five decades they’ve got together. "We don’t do Christmas day," he says. "But I bet we haven’t missed 25 Thursday nights in 56 years."
Even during the Covid-19 pandemic, they made sure they chatted with each other over Zoom.
The connections that have been forged during the pub meet-ups has inspired members of the group to take on marathons and other sporting challenges together, but they've also helped the group cope with some difficult times. "I lost my first wife when she was quite young," Peter says. "And then I met my second wife, and there were times when I thought, ‘I really ought to see my fiancée.' But I couldn’t if it was a Thursday - I had to go to the pub. That was it."
Peter believes part of the group's bond stems from them all having the same "standards of behaviour". "All the lads have been married for 50-odd years and they're all trustworthy," he says. "If they say they’ll do something, they’ll do it - they don’t let you down."
One change over the years is the amount of alcohol the group consume, with some members reducing their beer consumption and others giving up drinking completely. "We used to all go out and have three pints, but now we’re down to two pints, and some of us have non-alcoholic Guinness 0," Peter says.
The group believe their weekly meet-ups not only stop them feeling isolated but provide a sounding board for any problems. "It's such a good set of lads," Peter continues. "We never fall out. We just have fun. We’ve got this camaraderie that we can talk to each other about anything we’re worried about."
Additional reporting SWNS.
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