Good times keep rolling at Glenburn social club

The old saying, “Let the good times roll,” may not have been the inspiration for the name of the Glenburn Good Times Club, but the sentiment was certainly taken to heart.

What began as a strictly social group in 1977 is still going strong today.

“We enjoy each other’s company and just get together to have fun. And we are always looking for new people,” said Adele Rowe, president of the club since 1996.

The club meets at the Glenburn Town Hall the first and third Wednesday of the month from 11:30 a.m. to around 1:30 p.m. The minimum age to join is 55, and dues are $3 annually. It’s not necessary to be a resident of Glenburn to join.

“We have about 60 members from all over the place now, but about 20 are active and come to the meetings,” Rowe said. “Some older members in their 80s and 90s can’t get out anymore, but we keep in touch by sending cards for birthdays and Christmas. At age 85 you reach life membership and don’t have to pay anymore, and you get a certificate.”

The Good Times Club clearly lives up to its name.

“We have a pot luck at some of the meetings and then play bingo or have musical entertainment, old-time poetry readings, joke telling, or a silent auction which helps raise money for our day trips,” she said. “We take two trips a year. Last fall we went on a foliage trip to Greenville and took a boat up Moosehead Lake. It was beautiful. We’ve also gone to Saint Andrews, New Brunswick. The trips are really fun.”

Past president Agnes Brayson, 91, one of the original members, couldn’t agree more.

“I really enjoy the trips and things,” she said. “And I’d like to see other people join us.”

No holiday goes unnoticed by the club.

“We decorate the meeting room for all of them,” Rowe said. “On St. Patrick’s Day anyone who doesn’t wear green has to pay 25 cents. And at the Christmas party we don’t exchange gifts, we just all donate $3, which is donated to charity. We also had a Halloween party and anyone who didn’t wear a costume had to pay a dollar. In fact, Ruthena [Brasslette], the town clerk, surprised us all and came dressed as a witch.”

Brasslette remembers the day well.

“Oh, that was fun. I covered all up and bent over a little with my broom,” she said. “I brought cookies to share so they wouldn’t catch on. I heard whispers about who I could be, then one woman said, ‘That’s Ruthena. I can tell by her shoes.’ They all hugged me and we laughed and laughed. They are so good to us. They always invite us when they have their pot luck and of course everything smells so good.”

Sometimes the members decide to eat at a restaurant. A gentleman, 93, occasionally joins the group as a guest of one of the members.

“He came with us recently when we went out and said, ‘I feel honored to be with all these women.’ He was the only man there,” Rowe laughed.

But there seems to be a little bit more to the club than fun.

“It just gave me a fulfillment of being able to do something, because life can get pretty lonely when you’ve lost your mate,” said Rowe, who joined not long after her husband passed away. “I hope it has made a difference in the lives of others like it did mine.”

For more information about the Glenburn Good Times Club, call Arlene Rowe at 947-4510.

Carol Higgins is director of communications at Eastern Agency on Aging. For information on EAA services and programs, call the resource and referral department at 941-2865 or log on www.eaaa.org.