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A beautiful friendship that started 25 years ago began ina % coffee shop Longtime friends and coffee buddies, from left, Dawn Ireland, Carolyn West, Sheila Talbot, Ww Nancy MacMillan and Pat McDougall. x They find it hard to imagine that 26 years have passed. Dawn Ireland and Carolyn West were reminisc- ing about how time flies and yet, they remember as if it was yesterday. They recall with fondness how they and three other friends met for coffee and a chat all that time ago at Hank’s Pastries and continue, 26 years later, to meet every Saturday at 9 a.m., rain or shine. It was 1986 and Dawn and Carolyn, who both worked at Prince Albert School, had teenage sons working WE ARE PLEASED TO ANNOUCE THAT... WILL BE HOSTING AN IMPROV NIGHT ONCE A MONTH AT JESTERS Be part of the laughter, chaos, and enjoy great food! FOR INFORMATION: www.durhamimprov.com every Tuesday * starting at three pm eau eu reading * freee aang) HAVE DINNER WHILE YOU WAI RECEIVE 15% OFF * YOUR FOOD ORDER. book your appointment with Sharon or Carolyn by calling Jester’s Court: 905-985-2775 4 905-985-2775 279 Queen St., Port Perry 82 FOCUS - MARCH 2012 MARCH.FOCUS.32.indd 32 downtown, but who did not drive. Everybody picked up their mail at the post office in those days, so the ladies would drop their sons off, dash in to pick up their mail and inevitably run into each other. There seemed like so much to talk about, but not enough time, so they decided to meet at Hank’s and make a bit of a date of it. Within a few weeks, two other ladies from Prince Albert School, Sheila Talbot and Nancy MacMillan, joined them. A year later Pat McDougall rounded out their table and 25 years later the five ladies can still be found every Saturday tableside at Hank’s, deep in conversation, with never a dull moment to be had. Although life has a habit of getting in the way, Dawn and Carolyn say that rarely has the table ever been empty; two to five are always there and for many years no one missed unless something really big happened, like an operation or a vacation. Dawn said, “If any of us were going away for the weekend, the weekend started at 10 a.m. Saturday morn- ing; 9 a.m. was our time to get together.” Over the years they have become an important sup- port system for each other. In the beginning they talked about their families, events, trips, all the day to day things that were important to them Their children are grown now and have children of their own. “Now we share pictures of our grandkids and of course our dogs,” Dawn says. The staff at Hanks have only to see them coming through the door on Saturday mornings and their drinks are automatically delivered. Although the ladies know practically half of the people dining at Hank’s on these mornings, they are greeted but left alone for their pre- cious hour together. Friends may come and go but for Dawn, Carolyn, Sheila, Nancy and Pat their Saturday morning hour has led to a support network that blossomed into a beautiful friendship. By Marjorie Fleming Focus on Scugog 42-02-20 10:58 AM