April 2004

Seniors throw their weight behind Festival

By Sue Preston

The scene was set for a showdown by the river.

On one end of a 20 metre length of rope was a long line of seniors, hellbent on proving there was another meaning to ‘weight for age.’

On the other end was a line of flushed, eager, young YMCA volunteers who were not prepared to concede an inch to their older counterparts.

Minister for Aged Care Gavin Jennings had no doubt which side he was on and which side was going to win the tug of war.

When YMCA project manager Lee Conway gave the signal to pull, Mr Jennings and his determined band of seniors threw everything they had into the mix.

Four minutes later, it was all over and the seniors who had gone shoulder to shoulder surrounded Mr Jennings for high-fives and pats on the back all round.

The Fun, Fitness and Food Extravaganza at Birrarung Marr, organised by the YMCA and funded by the Department of Human Services’ Aged Care Branch, was one of the final events for the 2004 Victorian Seniors Festival.

At the riverside setting, seniors played heritage games, line-danced, did tai chi and played lawn bowls, mini golf and bocce.

The eight-day festival demonstrated everything good about being older in Victoria.

The events ranged from gold coin movies to a fashion show at Federation Square, where deportment queen June Dally-Watkins was heard to quietly advise the waiting models: ‘Never sit with your arms folded, it will make you round-shouldered.’

At the adjacent Zinc Function Centre, venue for the literary events, self-confessed bohemian Mirka Mora—‘I have a cat who thinks he’s my husband’—drew applause and some groans when she said: ‘Clutter is a continuation of your memory. It helps you know who you are.’

The Myer Music Bowl rocked to the Legends of Rock—Normie Rowe, Johnny Young, Denise Drysdale, Ronnie Burns and Marcie Jones—the Australian Army Band and Australian Idol star Cosima DeVito.