TWO years ago, Ger McNamara from Rathkeale was grappling with the loss of his beloved wife, Linda, to cancer at the age of just 58.
But with his world in shreds, Ger realised that there was still living to do and other people out there who has suffered the same loss, a loss that could only really be understood by someone who had gone through it.
So began the Mid West Widowed Social Group, which started with a gathering of 15 people and now has more than 200 members.
The group is not a professional therapy service “and it definitely isn’t about gloom and doom, but people make connections and close friends and if they are having a bad day they can pick up the phone to someone who understands because that person has been through the same loss,” Ger told the Limerick Post.
The group started out meeting for coffee and social chat and has since grown to a point where people are getting together for group holidays.
“We all of us look back but this is a social group and it’s about looking forward. I thought about it and I realised that I have another good 20 or 25 years or more of life ahead of me and there is no point spending it sitting in a corner,” Ger said.
“Being widowed, it can be daunting to find people to do social things with. One member said she was invited to a wedding recently and she was the only person there that wasn’t part of a couple. Another told me that before she found the group, she would spend days going from one shopping centre to another, buying things she didn’t need. This gives people a social outlet, with other people who in the same boat.”
The group organises walks and lunches at weekends and a get-together for coffee at the Castletroy Park Hotel at 7.30pm on the second Thursday of every month, an evening designed to welcome newcomers – and every Saturday morning in Zest in Raheen.
“We have a WhatsApp group and members post there if they are going to the theatre or planning an outing and there are always other members who join in. There’s even a group going on holiday to Lanzarote this year,” said Ger.
The only criteria for joining is that “you must have lost a life partner,” says Ger.
And while the group is not intended as a dating encounter, “some romance has blossomed”.
Those interested in finding out more can contact the new members WhatsApp group on 085 222 2963 or drop in to the Castletroy monthly coffee event.
