REACHING a certain stage in life doesn’t mean it’s time to pull up the drawbridge and withdraw from society.
There’s a big wide world out there waiting to be explored by like-minded people of a similar vintage.
“We want to change the image of what an older person is,” said Mark Wynn ahead of the launch of a pilot project designed to encourage over 50s to live life to the full.
“There’s more to it than Vera Lynn and bingo,” added Mark, who is the driving force behind Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale Circle and newly formed Crompton Circle.
And Mark, who is also chairman of Rochdale Hornets rugby league club, has issued an open invitation to over 50s to the Circle’s launch at De Niro’s restaurant in Heyside on Friday, April 20.
“We are really excited at the prospect of the Crompton Circle and we are looking forward to the ideas and suggestions that will come from the members,” he said.
“We already have some exciting ideas in the pipeline,” added Mark.
“But our activities are driven by what members want to do. It is not prescriptive.
“It might be walks, talks, quizzes to hot air ballooning and in the case of HMR Circle, abseiling down the front of Rochdale Town Hall. It’s all about reducing social isolation,” added Mark.
“We have around 800 members in the HMR Circle which is part of the Ambition for Ageing programme in Oldham.
“We went outside our boundary for the first time into Trafford and we are trying not to become a big secret.”
The work of Ambition for Ageing and HMR Circle is now reaching a much wider audience.
One of the more unusual pieces of praise for the work of HMR Circle came via contact from a University research group who were studying social isolation amongst older people.
They said HMR Circle’s work was the best example they could find world-wide in this field. The establishment in question was the University of Osaka in Japan.
The researchers flew to Rochdale from Japan to see the work. There has also been interest from the USA and South Korea.
Thanks to support of Ambition for Ageing there are 40 free memberships for Crompton Circle on a first come, first served basis.
Standard membership will be £20 for the year as an online member or £30 a year for postal member.
To find out more visit the launch event between 2pm and 4pm or call 01706 751165 or email hello@hmrcircle.org.uk to claim a free membership.