BRAY OLD FOLKS ASSOCIATION IS ON THE MOVE
AFTER 50 years at their premises on Killarney Road, Bray Old Folk Association and their Meals on Wheels service are temporarily moving to the Sunbeam House Services at Cedar Estate just past St Fergal’s Church, while the primary care centre is built.
The new facility is expected to be ready in two years and the site will include a pharmacy, doctors’ practice and more, as well as the Bray Old Folks Association (BOFA) kitchen and hall.
Meals on Wheels was started by Dorren O’Leary, Irene Hynes, Nora Healy, Emily Keating, Peggy French, Madge Jordan, Pat Egan, Michael Hennessy, Jim Brophy and Denis McCarthy in the parochial hall, with just one four-ring cooker.
Some of the original volunteers’ children and even grandchildren still volunteer to this day.
Following a search for a site, permission was received to erect a prefab on the Eastern Health Board car park on Killarney Road in 1969 and the building was in place.
With a door-to-door collection and other fundraising events, BOFA added a so- cial club providing lunch on Wednesdays in their premises and weekly meetings, dance outings, musical entertainment and visits to housebound members.
They deliver around 120 meals each Tuesday and Thursday, with around 15 or 20 members coming to lunch on Wednesdays,
They had a great party there last Wednesday to mark the start of their new era.
The last meal at the ‘Orchard’ BOFA premises went out last Thursday and, with no break in the service, the hot meals went out yesterday (Tuesday), from Cedar Estate.
They expect to be there for around two years before returning to their new premises at the primary care centre, with an all-voluntary group of cooks, kitchen helpers, drivers and the Order of Malta who run the services.