A History of the Stroke Club

The “Stroke Club” was conceived in 1989 by Pauline Noden, who at the time was a social worker at St. Marks Hospital. Supported by a band of volunteers, the Maidenhead and District Stroke Club was formed in March 1990 from a band of volunteers.

The club is one of around 500 who are affilitated to The Stroke Association, the only national charity for stroke sufferers, and of which H.M. The Queen is patron.

Support is received from the Stroke Association in the form of periodical magazines, many informative booklets and information for people who have had a stroke, and their carers about special events, holidays and so on.

Stroke is a debilitating condition that can attack almost without warning and have devastating consequences for the quality of life enjoyed. Our aim is to help ameliorate this effects for living with a stroke in the Maidenhead area.

Our club meets once a fortnight, for mainly social activities for our members, who are of all ages, and many of whom contend with physical contraints.

We are fortunate to have the use of the W.A.M.D.S.A.D club premises in Braywick Road, Maidenhead. These are purpose designed and built for people such as our club members and as such have good facilities for our needs.

The club arranges a variety of optional activities for our members. Many members enjoy simply socialising at our meetings, however, we also arrange other activities such as bowls, cards, scrabble, bingo, quizzes, craft and musical sessions. On some occassions, we are able to present special events such as slide shows, talks, outings, meals and seasonal events such as our Christmas Party. We don’t forget members’ birthdays either!

We are grateful for the co-operation of organisations such as People to Places, Maidenhead Care, Maidenhead Volunteer Bureau and our own volunteer drivers, whose costs we meet. This enables many of our members with specialised transport needs to attend our meetings. We are very grateful for all donations, including those from members, their families and their friends. These help support our own fund raising activities to meet the running costs of the club.