40th anniversary for Wallaceburg Adult Activity Centre

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The Wallaceburg Adult Activity Centre is celebrating their ruby anniversary this year, and they have a special open house planned to mark the occasion.

Pete Hensel, president of the board, said the open house will take place on Wednesday, July 8 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.

“It started off originally, I believe, over the old Royal Bank that use to be uptown on the corner of McNaughton and James. I don’t have the exact date but I would say we moved to the location we are at now 25 years ago,” Hensel said.

“There is a lot of people who have met and made some good friends there. It’s a place that a lot of people who maybe don’t have family or lost their spouses find that there is somewhere to go to talk to people who are in the same situation. So the social aspect in that way is as important as the activities are.”

Hensel said the open house is a combination of showing off what they have and also show some of the powers that be what they don’t have.

“With the present membership currently in the 700 range, the facility is just not adequate,” he said. “We are very tight on space, and could really use a building that would be an old school or something like that, with a gymnasium, with proper space for the exercise equipment as well as other room for other crafts and other programs.”

Hensel said we have certainly outgrown the facility we have.

“Even worse than the size is the fact that we just do not have adequate nearby parking and accessibility to get upstairs to some of the classes,” he said.

“The parking is the big thing. You have to cross a busy street in order to get to it. The designated parking is down off the end of Wellington Street towards the river as well as some of the handicap parking so you have to cross with the traffic coming across the bridge.”

Hensel added: “It’s just a busy road and seniors don’t move as fast as they did when they were younger. That’s a definite liability for our Centre.”

Hensel said the accessibility to the second floor is an issue.

“We either need an elevator or we need a building that is all on one floor. We did a survey recently. It indicates that we have outgrown that building and the age, most of them are in the 65 to 80 year old age range.”

The Wallaceburg Adult Activity Centre is located at 205 James St. in Wallaceburg. Give them a call at 519-627-6224 or give them a ‘Like’ on Facebook.

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