This is Haslemere spent a few hours at The Haslemere Stroke Club in November 2025. This group was set up in 1990 and its current lead, Sarah Fairbairn, has been involved since 1996. The group is a local branch affiliated with The Stroke Association. When we arrived at the club which meets at St Hugh’s at The Holy Cross Hospital, Sarah introduced us to the room and we were greeted with radiant smiles from the 12 attendees and all the volunteers. We instantly felt we were in a special place.

The group meets most Wednesdays and each session has a structure. We began with physiotherapist Helen leading a series of chair-based exercises to Linda’s musical accompaniment on keyboard. Linda has been volunteering at The Haslemere Stroke Club for 20 years and Helen has been leading the exercise segment for 18 years.

The stroke survivors and some of the volunteers went through a routine of marching, stretching, breathing, speech and movement. The participants’ ages ranged from 55 to 85, with the average age in the mid-70s and, as we progressed through the exercises, you could see how they had different degrees of physical movement. Helen has built a lovely rapport with each individual and encouraged them to have a go even where movement was restrictive. She was funny and had some friendly and cheeky banter from the room. Helen explained to us, “Some people here cannot move one side of their bodies, some cannot speak. The exercises are intended to encourage maintenance through movement.”

Once the exercises were complete, Helen set up skittles in the middle of the room and each attendee received two bean bags. It was fun and a real team effort to complete the task and knock the skittles over, with varying levels of gusto. There was a heartwarming camaraderie with joking and gorgeous egging on amongst the attendees. We loved the pure delight when a skittle went down and saw the sheer frustration when a bean bag went awry.

We then took a short break. Volunteers, Shirley and Naomi, brought out cups of tea and biscuits, distributed raffle tickets and caught up with everyone. In a lovely chat with Naomi, she explained she had been a nurse and had had a stroke during the Covid pandemic. She made contact with Sarah for support through The Haslemere Stroke Club and, rather than taking part directly in the exercises, she ended up volunteering instead. Shirley said, “I’m just the tea lady.”  She’s so much more than that. She knew everyone in the room and interacted in such a supportive and empathetic way.

As everyone was drinking tea and catching up, we spoke with Sarah about the running of the stroke club and its funding. She said they were so lucky in many ways. Firstly, they receive great support from The Holy Cross Hospital who provide the venue for free and also offer some administrative support. Secondly, they have been blessed with donations from, for example, Rotary, the local church, the mayor’s charity and some out of the blue donations including a belly dancer donating a month’s fees. Thirdly, club members pay £3.50 for each session. £3 per person goes to Helen and 50p goes towards tea and biscuits. Their biggest expense goes towards paying physiotherapist Helen. Money well spent for sure! Any surplus funds are spent on supporting the club’s stroke survivors and their carers where Sarah arranges a full schedule of group outings, talks, quizzes, Summer lunch, afternoon tea etc. and a Christmas tea party with Santa and music.

Sarah said she was invited to volunteer with The Haslemere Stroke Club and she enjoys it as “they are just nice people”.  She has built friendships with the stroke survivors and their carers at the club and she extends that to one-on-one support over tea or lunch if people need that extra help. Her philosophy is basic in that she treats people as she’d like to be treated herself – as do all the volunteers.

We finished up the session with a couple of rounds of bingo with Sarah as the caller jokingly declaring that “today’s prize is a trip to The Caribbean.”  Her volunteers helped some members who find it tricky to write and hold their bingo card at the same time. Masking tape was used to secure some of the cards to the table. Sarah explained, “Bingo is very good for thinking and coordination of the brain where you are concentrating and looking for a number.”  It was also clear that they were enjoying it. There was total concentration in the room and real friendships. One thing was clear - they all had a desire to win!

Sarah and her seven volunteers set a truly lovely tone in the room at The Haslemere Stroke Club. It’s a safe, caring, encouraging and quite simply wonderful place.

For more information and to contact The Haslemere Stroke Club, here is more information. 

Pictured from left to right are volunteers Shirley, Jackie (another stroke survivor now volunteer), Richard, Sarah, Jackie and Naomi.