Today’s young people can’t seem to spend a moment away from their screens and often communicate with their friends through online messages, but a group of friends in their eighties have proven that in-person friendship is the secret to finding connections. durable.
A group of Rotherham men spoke about their 56 years of shared friendship, expertly maintained through a weekly Thursday night pub trip.
Speaking to Joe Inwood on BBC Breakfast this morning, Paul Haynes, Bill Munden, Ken King, Peter Thirlwall, Brian Ayres and Dick Cotton explained how they have kept up the tradition of drinking a pint for so long.
The group, now in their eighties, began meeting in 1968 and believes they have missed no more than two dozen weeks in all their years of friendship.
The tradition began in the 60s, when schoolmates Ken and Paul would sneak out during their free time to play golf or have a naughty pint.
Friends gathered, every week! A group of six friends (pictured) from South Yorkshire have celebrated 56 years of weekly pub trips. From left to right: Ken King, 80, Dick Cotton, 81, Paul Haines, 79, Brian Ayres, 83, Bill Mundon, 78, and Peter Thirlwall, 78
Time flies, the friends photographed in 1970, two years after the evening became a regular occurrence… that none of them imagined would still be strong more than 50 years later.
The friends have met at the same pub, The White Swan in Sheffield, weekly since 1968; The friends pictured in 1980: left to right, Mick Courtnel, Mick’s wife Jean Thirlwal, Peter Thirlwall, Julie Mondon, Maureen Cotton and Bill Mondon. , 1980
The cheeky weekday drinks quickly became a habit and the group maintains that they meet almost every week. Ken even joked that anyone who can’t make it on a Thursday should write a school-style absence note if they bail.
The group has evolved over the years with friends, colleagues and neighbors coming and going.
During Tuesday’s news, Inwood asked one of the group’s oldest members, Ken, what he thought of their newfound fame, following the original article about the group published last Saturday.
‘It’s unbelievable, I can’t understand it and a friend of mine said he can’t understand what all the fuss is about, some old farts sitting in a pub. And I think I agree with him.
The BBC announcer wondered how the group, who are barely a week apart, have managed to maintain the tradition after so many years.
“Well, it’s really difficult, but I think we are all very similar, we have similar experiences and a tremendous sense of humor.
Drinkers have stuck to their weekly chat date for more than half a century: Pictured: Bill Mundon, 78, Paul Haines, 79, Dick Cotton, 81, Brian Ayres, 83, and Peter Thilrwall (seated), 78.
Peter Thirlwall. Fifth from the left, he said he inadvertently helped found the meetings when he started going for a beer with his neighbor Paul Haynes after a few rounds of golf.
The group later grew to include seven core members: pictured left to right: Mick Sorby, Peter Thirlwall and Bill Mondon.
“And we can laugh at ourselves and yeah… It’s just the camaraderie.”
Responding to how conversations had changed over 56 years of pub outings, group member Peter, a retired electrical engineer, explained.
‘Originally it was football and sex and now it’s pensions and prostates!
‘Now we talk very often about our ailments that we never talked about when we were younger.
“The amount of topics we deal with in the pub is tremendous,” he added.
The friends appeared on BBC News this week after the story of their Thursday night get-togethers hit Facebook.
‘It is very, very rare that we miss a Thursday. Sometimes we are all on vacation and we can’t manage it. “We could be left with only three if the situation becomes really desperate,” he told the station.
He proudly explained that there were even three consecutive years in which the group met every Thursday, without exception.
The pubs vary, alternating between Sheffield and Rotherham, to account for the different homes of the friends.
And a commitment of half a century is no small feat. Peter remembered the bond that brought the men together week after week.
Friends said almost everyone tries to attend and rotates pubs so it’s close to where everyone in the group lives.
He credited the “appropriate” social reaction shared among the group: each meeting lacked the distraction of cell phones.
‘The problem today is that everyone has mobile phones and everything they do is on social media. They are found on social networks.
‘We are from the old school, the rock and roll era. We all get together, it has nothing to do with phones. There is an appropriate social reaction among us.
During an interview the group did with BBC Radio Sheffield, Peter admitted that the group “don’t do emotional type things.”
Despite the longevity of their bond, Paul claimed that they had never quarreled, despite not always seeing eye to eye.
During an interview the group did with BBC Radio Sheffield, Peter admitted that the group “don’t do emotional type things.”
Fashions have changed – this photograph was taken in the 1980s… but the appeal of a pint remains the same.
‘Everyone is different. “We have incredibly opposing political views, which leads to the most incredible and illogical arguments,” he said.
To ensure their friendship lasts, the group have never let an argument follow them out of the pub.
“We’re quite different people, but I suspect we all have the same core values,” Brian said.
During the Covid pandemic, the country was plunged into several lockdowns that lasted for months.
Despite the longevity of their bond, Paul claimed that they had never quarreled, despite not always seeing eye to eye.
While restrictions may have stopped the group’s gatherings, their friendship remained strong.
Nothing was going to deter the White Swan three from catching up weekly over a pint.
“It just continued as it really was,” Peter said. ‘The only thing that changed is that some of the guys that left, one went to Australia, the other to Pennsylvania, but the only thing that changed was that they joined us on Zoom.
“So we actually had a larger group when we were on Zoom than we would in a normal week.”
Another member of the group, Bill, recalled how much the weekly meetings had meant to him over the past half century.
‘It has made a tremendous difference. In previous years, I was only able to visit occasionally due to work commitments, but since I retired.
“But since I retired, I’ve become a full-time Thursday night guy and I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
According to one member of the group, while they used to drink three pints in one night, nowadays they only drink two.
Explaining why they meet every week, one joked: “This keeps me from being boring.”
“You have to do things,” Paul said. ‘You can’t just get together as a group for a meeting because all you discuss is the past. But if you keep doing things, keep going and there’s always something new to talk about.’