Write a commentThe Brain Injury Foundation based in Camlough have purchased the former INF social club which adjoins their current Centre of Excellence and plan to turn it in to a Pub with no Beer to help the social needs of their members.
Frank Dolaghan, Chair of the Foundation, said ” Brain injury is often seen as a thief which steals away many aspects of the lives of survivors who are no longer able to enjoy activities they took for granted before their brain injury. Socialising is one area where brain injury survivors have often to face changes. Alcohol consumption and brain injury are not at all compatible and so visits to pubs can be difficult for some survivors. At the same time many brain injury survivors, especially male survivors, retain their skills such as playing pool or darts. The Brain Injury Foundation has begun to address this issue by inviting teams from Newry Pool league to play friendly matches in our premises and while this has been very successful we have to accept it is just not the same as playing in your local pub. When the social club beside us came on the market we spoke to our members and agreed it would make sense for BIF to buy the club and convert it into a pub with no beer where we could facilitate pool and darts matches and create a “local” for our members. We have been able to complete the purchase with support from the Ulster Community Investment Trust.”
Gabriel McGivern, the top brain injury pool player in BIF and his team mates are really looking forward to the new club. Gabriel said ” Playing pool is one of the things we all really enjoy and it is great for us to be playing and sometimes wining matches against other teams. The new pub will be a brilliant addition to the fabulous facilities we already enjoy at BIF.”
