Community contribution – living happier for longer

At 48 & 51-years respectively my sister and I really enjoy being called ‘girls’ , which is exactly what our friends at Toft church call us. We’ve been in and out of St John’s since we were at Sunday School. We both were married there, my niece and nephew were christened at the church, and my husband Stephen is now buried there. It’s always been a special place and continues to be so.

This Saturday it has been the annual church summer fete. As we’re in Cheshire, we have to pray for a dry day and rain held off until 4:30pm, so a great success. We run the sweets & drinks stall –  extremely popular with children and their grandparents. And we have to keep on our toes managing the maths of multiple sticky sweets priced from a penny up to 20p. It helps to have a primary school teacher (my sister) to keep the numbers tallied, even though she insisted all the children add up for themselves as they go! 

Preparing sandwiches at Toft Church’s annual summer fete

A big attraction is the Dog Show. This year Hector and I entered. There wasn’t a category for smallest pooch so we didn’t stand much of a chance in a competition filled with gun dogs. Maybe next year he’ll be eligible for the veteran class. It was lovely to see so many dog lovers, young and old, competing. Our resident judge is the local retired vet, who must be nudging 80 now and still has a good eye for a healthy animal. Other attractions this year included the marvellous Silver Band, baby Alpacas, archery and an array of stalls. The tombola was as well frequented as ever…much to the chagrin of our Associate minister who doesn’t quite approve of raffles! And of course a wealth of sandwiches, cake and tea was enjoyed by all. 

This is part of our social fabric, it’s where we feel welcome and in good company with like-minded souls. Many of the folk who were working hard at the fete were in their 70s & 80s. Lots using sticks to move about, all of them smiling as they inspected each of the stalls.  We know they are our parents’ contemporaries but what we all have in common is our values. Age has never been a boundary. I can’t imagine any of them giving up their independence or stopping their desire to help others and contribute to their community. That’s how they’ve always lived their lives and how they’ve taught us to live.

That’s probably why I’m so passionate about creating and developing Evermore communities, so we can all look forward to old age with the reassurance that we will be able to contribute to whatever level we wish. I believe that’s why we can all live happier for longer. My fellow parishioners seem to agree and are my greatest supporters and encouragement.

Join our mission and help us to ensure all of us get to live the life we choose in older age.

Look out for Evermore.

Sara McKee, Evermore Founder and Director of Market Innovation

Follow Sara @SaraMcKeeFRSA