Photo: Club President John Graham greets Nicola Greer, with club members Gordon Ward (L) and Bob McIvor (R) ___________

Talk by Nicola Greer giving some '55+ Alcohol Awareness'

Coleraine Probus members welcomed the training officer from the 55+ Alcohol Awareness programme. Alcohol Awareness is an Umbrella Organisation, funded for 3 years by the Big Lottery Fund, which provides community contact and confidential support for individuals and families who experience alcohol abuse.

The aim of the programme is twofold, as it illustrates the possible consequences and dangers of alcohol to the general public as well as helping to reduce the physical and mental harm caused by alcohol to individuals and families affected by it.

Nicola works within a small team with two social workers providing counselling services and an alcohol awareness programme of 16 weekly 15-minute sessions. Nicola's role is to organise training courses and community outreach work visiting various local groups, like Probus.

Part of Nicola's talk was an alcohol related quiz, which the Club members enjoyed, and scored well in the knowledge stakes with questions like: (a) 'What is the average age people take their first alcoholic drink - 11 or 13 or 17?'; (b) 'What is the percentage of the NI population aged over 65 who drink over the recommended limit - 23 or 38 or 42?' and (c) 'Guinness is good for you - true or false?' (See far below for the answers).

Other interesting parts to Nicola's talk covered; the effects of alcohol on various medications; just how big (or small) is 'One Unit' (max recommended per WEEK for men, being 21 units, and 16 units for women); and the changing patterns of drinking today - "pre-loading" before going to a party!

A vote of thanks was proposed by Bob McIvor; he said that Nicola was an impressive speaker, who came with a timely and very important message to all the members. In fact one may say 'Cheers' to that!

For more information, visit the 'Think Drink NI' web site be 'clicking' here

[Answers: (a) 13y; (b) 23%; (c) False - yes it does contain iron, but you would need 15 pints to get as much iron as two Weetabix!]