Dear Prime Time member,

What a difference a week makes…!  This time last week was dreary, grey and rather damp, but looking out of the window this afternoon I see blue sky and sunshine!  It’s enough to put a spring in my step, daring to hope that longer, warmer days are on the horizon.  And if the news that broke earlier this week is to be believed, sunnier days are ahead too in terms of society opening up again, as already the vaccine programme would seem to be having the hoped-for effect of driving down Covid transmission rates, serious illness and deaths due to the virus.  I don’t think it’s just me, but there seems to be a level optimism around that can’t solely be put down to the reappearance of the sunshine and a few tantalising glimpses of spring.  We all realise that there’s a way to go yet before the restrictions on our lives can be significantly lifted, but belief does seem to abound that maybe this time, lock down easing might just be permanent.  Some might say ‘there’s light at the end of the tunnel’, others that there’s ‘hope in the darkness’; but however you choose to phrase it I hope that the news this week has helped to lighten the burden that you have all been carrying for the last year.  I know it won’t have removed it completely, but I do hope that burden feels lighter than it has done of late.

So what else in the news has caught my eye this week?  The journalist Fi Glover airing her views via her column in the Waitrose Weekend free weekly paper, in which she described a recent interaction on her radio broadcast.  Fi and her colleague Jane Garvey do a weekly broadcast on Radio 4 called The Listening Project.  Earlier this month, one broadcast featured a conversation between two ladies, Joyce and Joan.  Joan is 90, Joyce 86 – they had never met, but were happy to discuss together their views about ageing and have it recorded for public consumption.  Well, it did make me smile and reminded me so much of conversations that I’ve had with various Prime Time members over the years.  The general gist of the conversation was ‘I might be 90 but don’t pension me off!’  90 year old Joan is still a School Governor and a trustee for a charity.  She had a remarkably positive and upbeat view on Lock Down saying that her social life hasn’t been this good in years and commenting that she no longer has to go outside and meet people because they all come to her on her screen!

Frustrations were aired too with both ladies admitting that ageing brings with it a sense of invisibility, with older people generally not being newsworthy unless they’re ‘being a nuisance or doing something wonderful such as jumping from an aeroplane’ as one of the pair commented.  A general feeling was expressed that they didn’t feel represented in films and on TV or in the media; ‘I turn on the television and I don’t see people who look like me’ was the observation made here.  Of course, feelings like that are not exclusive to the older population, those very same comments were coming to the fore last year as awareness of issues affecting Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic groups achieved widespread recognition in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement.  I wonder if Joan and Joyce’s radio broadcast will have such far reaching impact?  Probably not, but it’s a start and if enough of us have these kinds of conversations, maybe attitudes will change.  It’s somewhat overdue…

The conversation between Joan and Joyce is well worth a listen.  You can hear it via the BBC website at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0965h2b You don’t need a BBC account or to sign in, you can just ‘click’ and listen.  The conversation between Joan and Joyce is the first one featured in the broadcast and last about 8 ½ minutes.

Joan and Joyce didn’t mention this familiar road sign; but I’m sure they have an opinion on it, probably you do too…

How do you feel as you drive past that?  Do you feel it represents you?  If not, you’re not alone.  I was interested this week to read about a competition to update this image as there has been concern that ageist stereotypes can become self-fulfilling prophecies as they can affect how older people view themselves, their capabilities and the sorts of activities they take part in.  Such concerns were the starting point for a competition run by the charity Centre for Ageing Better which asked designers to submit ‘age positive’ alternatives to the walking sticks and hunched-over figures that we are so familiar with in visual depictions of old age. 

So how do you feel about this version?

Yes, this is the winning entry in the competition.  Alas we won’t be seeing it on a road sign anytime soon as the new design is not intended for use as road signage, but it will be used in reports and other materials to represent older people in a positive way.  The designer has used the original symbol of the couple crossing the road but given it an energetic spin, with their walking stick becoming a dancing cane. “Dancing is one of the things that people of all ages love,” he said. “It promotes physical, mental and emotional health as well as a chance to be sociable, expressive and uplifting.”  So if images depicting older people can become self-fulfilling prophecies, I think the Prime Time Team need to be planning a tea dance as one of our first events once we are permitted to socialise in large groups once again!

If dancing isn’t your thing, maybe reading is.  For my birthday last year I was given a copy of Richard Osman’s debut novel ‘The Thursday Murder Club’.  Have you come across it yet?  If not, I can highly recommend it.  Set in a retirement complex; one of the book’s charms is the depiction of older people as sharp, funny and capable of solving cases younger police officers can’t.  In the book, Mr Osman (yes, the same Richard Osman  of ‘Pointless’ fame) creates a vibrant community of lives fully lived and appreciated.  How refreshing!  The film rights to the book have already been snapped up.  I am praying that once it is released it will be a film that we will be allowed to show for one of our Movie Matinees; I suspect it would be very popular!

Whilst we’re on the topic of books and reading and age being no barrier; I have a proposal for you.  Our Sunday morning children’s groups are currently all online due to the current restrictions and the leaders of these groups having done this on and off for the best part of a year now, are sensing that maybe the children are getting  a bit fed-up of seeing the same faces on screen week-in and week-out.  Recently, one of our Prime Time members was asked by our Children’s Worker Judith if she could make a video recording of herself on her phone reading the story for that week.  Well, it was such a success.  The children loved having someone new read to them and the Prime Time member later contacted Judith and thanked her for ‘making me feel useful again’.

Encouraged by such positivity on both sides, Judith has approached me with the suggestion that maybe we could make ‘Reading with Prime Time’ a regular feature.  What do you think?  Would you be up for it? No previous experience necessary… You would be provided with the story to read and you would do it at your convenience in the comfort of your own home.  No-one would be watching you; it would be the perfect social distancing activity!  Maybe you’ve been reading bedtime stories to your grandchildren via Zoom during Lock Down or maybe you’re missing your grandchildren as you haven’t been able to see them and this might help fill a bit of that children-sized hole.  Please do give it some thought and let me know.  I’d love to say to Judith that Prime Time are right behind this initiative; Judith and her colleagues in the Children, Youth and Families Team have been so keen to support Prime Time members over the past year; this is our opportunity to give a little something back.  As the writer of Psalm 92 encourages: ‘They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green’.  Will you accept the challenge and thereby revealing to the younger members of our church family that the words of Psalm 92 are indeed true?

Maybe you can think of other ways this week to show that you remain as ‘fresh and green’ as the new spring buds on the trees.

Until next week,

Penny x

Penny Naylor

Primetime Befriending Co-ordinator