Geriatric Pub Crawl Gets Ladies Out

Before lunch was brought out to the 38 elderly women seated in the dining room of Fulford Residence on downtown Guy St., employee Sandra Glover rang a little bell in her hand to get everyone's attention.

"Good afternoon, ladies," she said. "I will just remind you that the pub crawl today begins at 2 p.m."

Montreal is a city with a rich, colourful history when it comes to clubbing. But nothing quite matches the semi-annual pub crawl of the women of Fulford nursing home, under the careful chaperone of the Montreal police force.

Sure enough, just as Glover had said, a Montreal police paddy wagon pulled up in front of Fulford shortly before 2 o'clock on Tuesday afternoon. The weather outside was terrible. A late spring snow shower was falling.

But that didn't deter some of the women of Fulford - like 95-year-old Hester Kerr.

"Mrs. Kerr says she wants to go," nurse Celi Glover whispered into managing director Donna Girard's ear.

"But she's in a wheelchair," Girard said.

"Well, she says she's going to walk today," nurse Glover said.

Out of the paddy wagon came Constable Eric Charbonneau and his partner, Constable Bruno Delli Colli. Handsome men, they looked like they had come out of GQ magazine, too.

Charbonneau put his arm around Kerr and helped her down a ramp into the paddy wagon. The two officers worked with Fulford employee Marie-Anne James and four Fulford volunteers to escort another seven women into the paddy wagon.

Click here for the full story:
By David Johnston
The Montreal Gazette
Photo Credit:
Phil Carpenter, Montreal Gazette