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Eddie fulfills promise to read aged 81

“I can’t imagine ever not being able to go to the Therapeutic Thursday Group. I’ve learned more in these last few weeks than I ever did in school or college.”

Living Well Rochdale’s volunteer-led Therapeutic Thursday Group has opened new horizons for 81-year-old Eddie. Despite a varied career as a Class 1 HGV driver, bricklayer, electrician and fairground worker, Eddie left school at 15 unable to read.

When he wandered into Rochdale Library one day late last year, looking for someone to ‘learn him his vowels’, he was spotted looking a little lost by a Therapeutic Thursday volunteer. They got him to stay to meet a volunteer and former teaching assistant able to offer him the literacy support he craved.

Eddie has been going to the group every week since then. He’s now looking forward to fulfilling a promise to learn to read to ‘make his wife proud’, as she was the one who encouraged him his whole life, though she sadly passed away many years ago.

The Therapeutic Thursday Group has gone from strength to strength since its launch in September 2024, and now has an average of 20 people coming along each week. The group came from a throw-away comment from Rochdale volunteer Pauline, who wanted “a nice friendly space to have a brew, meet new people and learn lots of new skills.”

It was enough to prompt volunteers from Rochdale’s Fibromyalgia Group, Arts and Craft Group and Chatter Service to try tackling loneliness and isolation by combining their strengths in one group. The group is now able to offer literacy support, arts and crafts, games, holistic therapies, blood pressure checks, very brief advice on stopping smoking, guest speakers and more, all in one place.