Photo: Club members Aileen Ballard, President Betty Barber, John Miller, Veronica Sargent, Secretary Judy McDonald, and Geoff Sheehan.
The Yass Senior Citizens Club are seeking more members to join in on an afternoon of fun at the Seniors’ Hall on Rossi Street.
Alongside the NSW Seniors Festival from March 25 to April 3, the club is also waiving the $25 annual membership fee until the end of June so now’s the time to join and come along for an interesting afternoon.
Afternoon tea is provided each day along with the opportunity to socialise with a wide variety of locals for a few hours.
Club member Geoff Sheehan joined the group a couple years ago after moving to Yass from Camden in 2016. However, the group was shut down for long periods over the last two years due to COVID-19 spikes across the state.
Geoff enjoys the social aspect the Seniors Club offers and goes twice a week as well as Tuesday’s Bingo at the Yass Soldiers Club.
He said they usually have a raffle draw on Mondays and a meat draw on Wednesdays with a lucky door prize on both days.
The group meets on Mondays at 2pm for a game of Crazy Whist and Wednesdays at 1:30pm for a game of Euchre or Hoy.
“If you don’t know how to play, we will soon teach you as they are similar to other card games,” Geoff said. “After each game we swap partners so that you get to mix and socialise with most people in attendance.”
“So you get to meet everyone and by the time you’ve finished the day you’ve nearly played against everybody.”
Crazy Whist plays essentially like set-back (a.k.a. pitch) but the rules change every hand. Teams of two players each play cards and try to win “tricks.” Five points are awarded per trick at the end of each hand. In the first hand, hearts are trump. In the second, clubs are trump, but the lowest card wins each trick.
Euchre is like Whist and is usually scored by rubber points. The first side to win two games wins the rubber and each game counts for the side winning.
On the other hand, Hoy is a simple bingo like card game played in groups of two or more. The idea is for a player to match all their cards on their sheet to the cards the dealer turns over to become a winner.
The highest score in Crazy Whist on Mondays receives a prize but if you’re still working on your card skills then the lowest score wins a booby prize as well. The group also hold luncheons at various times throughout the year.
The Seniors Festival is aimed at delivering world-quality entertainment and engaging activities for people over 60, in Covid safe settings.
The Yass Valley Library is offering a free morning tea for seniors on March 31 at 11am.
Seniors Minister Natalie Ward said the festival would build on a strong legacy of showing NSW seniors how much they are valued.
“The NSW Seniors Festival has been running successfully for more than 60 years and is a great way to promote inclusion and encourage older people to get involved in health, art, music, technology and physical activity,” Natalie said.
By Brianna O’Rourke
