The 1938 Ladies Club (38 Club) met for its final scheduled meeting on Oct. 11, after club organizer Ann McNally announced her plans to retire.
The group consists of women who were all born in the same year, 1938, and they have been meeting up at the yearly gathering for 20 years now.
To celebrate one last scheduled meet-up, the club rented a formal room at the Grant Hall Hotel.
McNally said the room was chosen after a few of the ladies had lunch there a few weeks back. After being shown around the building, they knew the venue was just right for the occasion. “It’s quite grand, and we’re grand,” one of the ladies explained.
Beyond its aesthetically pleasing atmosphere, the room’s layout also helped facilitate good conversation.
“They even shut the doors for us, just in case we got too rowdy,” one of the members chuckled.
McNally said she started the club spontaneously and the idea has stuck ever since that first meeting.
“I started it, and I don’t know why I started it, but I started it,” explained McNally. “I knew a few ladies and we got together for supper, and we’ve been getting together every year since.”
“There were four of us who went out to start out with. We were all good friends. And then people knew a few people… who were born the same year, and it just grew,” one of the ladies recalled.
The group continued to grow over time as word spread and more members discovered friends and acquaintances who were also born in 1938. The idea behind the club clearly had staying power.
At its height, the 38 Club had grown to more than 40 regular members.
The ladies would pick a different spot for each yearly meeting, and this added variety and helped maintain something of the spontaneous nature of the club.
“It started out at the (Temple Gardens) Spa in 2003,” said one of the ladies. She recalled that the first meeting had eight members in attendance.
The 38 Club has also met at venues including the Timothy Eaton Gardens, and the meetings have always been a simple, social gathering based around a good meal.
“We used to go out for supper. Now we find it’s easier to meet at lunch time once you get a little bit older. You will find that out,” said one of the ladies with a chuckle.
McNally used to make special home-made cakes for the occasion, and the ladies recalled a certain piano-shaped cake that she introduced at one of the meetings. “I got rid of all my stuff, you see. I’m an old, retired lady now and I don’t cook anymore,” McNally said in good spirit.
The number of participating members has been on the decline, and McNally’s decision to retire was partially based on the growing difficulty of organizing members who could not guarantee their attendance.
“There are not as many now, as some people are in homes, and some people have moved away to their families. We’re a lot less now than we were probably five years ago,” one lady explained.
“This will probably be our last gathering, because I’m going to retire now,” McNally then confirmed.
McNally offered one explanation for her decision to retire as club organizer. “Well, it’s hard to remember everything,” she said with a laugh. “I have to have it listed off.”
“I keep the list by the phone, and I check it green if they’re coming you see, and red if they’re not. And then they phone and change their mind, and I have to do some changing.”
The ladies plan to keep in touch as best they can, and a few of their daughters went to school together which helps some of them stay in close contact.
All in all, McNally said the last official meeting couldn’t have gone better. “Today went very well and we had a really good visit,” she concluded.
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