Too old to keep fit? Not even at 99 years old!

Margaret Grove was ninety-nine when she started taking fitness classes at the Westend Seniors Activity Centre on Ottawa!

But although Margaret is the oldest, she's not the only one.  Rose Boucher - a young 72 - has rheumatoid arthritis and says that going to the classes helps her a lot.  And it's fun, she adds.  And Gwyneth Bell - who is 84 - goes twice a week to build up her muscle strength.  "It makes a difference," she says.  "It really does".

Margaret Grove - who let's remind ourselves is 99 years old - says the classes helped her regain mobility after breaking her hip.  

Some people have been coming to Ilonka Wormsbecker's fitness classes for more than 20 years.  And if you didn't guess it, Ilonka herself is no spring chicken at 84.

Which all just goes to prove - you are never too old to keep fit.  Honestly, it's just another case of Age No Limit.

Fitness leader inspires seniors

Read more

Ninety-nine year Margaret Grove oldest person taking fitness classes
Ilonka Wormsbecker teaches a seniors fitness class
Fitness leader inspires seniors

Too old to break records? Think again!

You are never to old to break records (or set them)!  Don't believe me?  Well check out this little list of record-breakers and see what you think:

• 91-year-old Sy Perlis broke the world bench press record for his age

• Dr Charles Eugster is 95 and has broken the 200m world record for his class
 

• Tom Lackey is 93 and he broke the record for the world's oldest wing walker after wing walking for about 91 minutes across the Irish Sea!  He claimed it was very refreshing.  And cold.  And very very noisy
  
  
• 103 year old Gus Andreone made an ace at the golf club using a driver at a 114-yard-par-3.  In English - he became the oldest person ever to make a hole-in-one!

• Harriette Thompson ran a seven hour marathon in San Diego last year - she's 91 and recovering from cancer.  She beat the previous record for women 90 and over by TWO HOURS and FORTY-FIVE MINUTES
  
  
• Margit Tall, from Finland,  who walks with a stick is possibly the oldest woman bungee jumper at 95 years old.  She did it, loved it and didn't let out one scream.  And she has the certificate to prove it.   Only Mohr Keet, a from South Africa, is older - he was 96 when he did his jump!

• Japanese mountaineer Tamae Watanabe, 73, is still climbing; she set a world record last month, becoming the oldest woman to scale Mount Everest, the tallest mountain in the world. She broke her own record, set when she was 63.

All over ninety years old - and one over 100 - and they all broke records. 

Take a look at some of the pictures on FLICKR

When you think that your time for achievement is over - think about these wonderful examples of Age No Limit.

There are many things that can stop us achieving - just because we are older doesn't mean that it is the end.  Sometimes, it means it is just the start.

---

Read more
Wing walking pensioner breaks record over the irish sea
Wing Walking Pensioner

Will Fyffe - Scottish Music Hall star - writes about being Ninety Years Old

A little light relief from Will Fyffe.

Will Fyffe was probably best known for his classic song - I belong to Glascow.  In the 30s he was one of the highest paying performers on the music halls.  He recorded over thirty songs and starred in over twenty films.

It's nice to sit down when you're nintey-four, Down by the kitchen fire,
And think o' the times you used to have, And the girls that you admire.
But a farmer's life's a healthy life, I feel as good as new,
And I'll bet a bob you'll be surpris'd at what I'll tell to you.
I'm ninety-four this mornin', Aye, I'm ninety-four today.
I'm not so young as I used to be, I'm gettin' old and grey.
But my heart is young, and I'm fond of fun, And I'm very proud to say
That I'm gettin' married on Thursday Tho' I'm ninety-four today.
Of course down in the village It will be a big surprise,
The people think it's all a joke, That the minister's telling lies.
Oh! But we will get the laugh at them, As sure as I'm alive,
For there'll maybe be a christ'ning yet Before I'm ninety-five.

I'm ninety-four this mornin', Aye, I'm ninety-four today.
I'm not so young as I used to be, I'm gettin' old and grey.
But my heart is young, and I'm fond of fun, And I'm very proud to say
That I'm gettin' married on Thursday Tho' I'm ninety-four today.

Hear him perform this piece and be amazed.  And amused.

AND although he was actually only 44 when he released this song, we think it still backs up our belief in Age No Limit.

---

Read more...

About Will Fyffe
Ninety Four This Morning

You are never too old to ...

There are lots of things you are 'never to old' to do... here are just a few.  And with them, examples of those who have done them.

1. You are never too old to ...  pass your driving test!   At 94, Lord Renton passed his driving test.  The British will know him as a 'Tory peer' and a former government minister.  We'll just remember him as someone who was not too old...
   
2. You are never too old to ... be Prime Minister!   Lord Palmerston became Prime Minister of England when he was 71.  Whether or not he did a good job is another question, but age proved to be no limit for him.
   
3. You are never too old to ... go to the North Pole!  Dorothy Davenhill Hirsch was 89 when she became the oldest person to visit the North Pole.  Forty degrees below zero - but she didn't let that stop her.
   
4. You are never too old to ... get your pilot's license!  Retired Lt Col James C Warren at 87 became the world's oldest person to get his pilot's license.  Now that's what we call a 'high flyer'. 
   
5. You are never too old to ... get published!  Good news for all us budding authors.  Bertha Wood published her first book entitled "Fresh Air and Fun: The Story of a Blackpool Holiday Camp" on her 100th birthday. 
   
6. You are never too old to ... go into outer space! We tend to think of astronauts as young twenty-somethings.  But yet another myth is consigned to the slop bucket with the story of John Glenn who became the oldest person to go into space - at 77!  

So when someone says you are 'too old to...' - tell them to shut the old cake-hole and remind them of this list.

Because you are never too old.  Because, as we keep reminding ourselves, Age no Limit.

"JohnGlenn" by NASA - Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

---

Read more ...

You're never too old
Bertha Wood
Read the Holiday Camp Book

Australia's oldest PhD at 93!

Some may remember the character Lucy Sutcliffe from TV's Number 96.  It was the show that - some say - lost Australia it's virginity!  It was rude, funny and addictive.  Nothing like it came before and, I'd add, nothing like it has come along since.  Because nothing has been the same since.  Number 96 went beyond the expected - broke new limits.

And Elizabeth Kirby, who played Lucy Sutcliffe, has broken new limits again.  At 93, she has attained her PhD with a thesis - a comparative study of the Great Depression and the Global Financial Crisis.  And she should know - she has lived through both.

She decided to do the thesis because 'you either use it or lose it'. 

Well, she certainly hasn't lost it yet.  According to her classmates, she brings a wealth of knowledge and experience and a contagious positive attitude.  She inspires those about her to set their mind to things and to achieve it.  As Angie Ng says, "the best time to do anything is not about your age, it is to do it now". 

As Elisabeth herself says: "When you do get to retirement, have a holiday by all means, relax, but then find something interesting to do, something you've always wanted to do and maybe never have the opportunity because too many other things happened in your life. I think that that is what is really important. "

---

Read more...

From Number 96 to Australia's Oldest PhD at 93