Rise of the social senior

This bloke is 92 years old with an enviable talent for banter. He lives in an aged care village and one thing is certain: his social life is a lot better than yours.

harry ryman

This bloke is 92 years old with an enviable talent for banter. He lives in an aged care village and one thing is certain: his social life is a lot better than yours.

Harry Christensen played bingo today, but he didn’t win. He’s not too fussed though, because he’s mostly there to chat to his mates.

The 92-year-old is sharp as a tack with an enviable gift for banter that becomes obvious almost immediately after I start chatting to him and Weary Dunlop Village manager Kym Faulkner.

“Harry used to live in a village I worked at many years ago,” explains Kym. “We’re old mates, aren’t we? It was nice to get here and see that he was here. We’ve known each other 18 years.”

“You’ve got grey hair since then,” Harry says with a twinkle in his eye.

“Now my hair’s the same colour as yours,” teases Kym.

“My hair’s grey naturally. Her hair is grey because of me,” he tells me, not missing a beat.

Harry and his wife, Shirley, moved into the retirement village in Melbourne earlier this year. They started in a serviced apartment, but Shirley is now living with dementia and her health has slowly deteriorated. She recently moved into a care centre and Harry visits her every day for afternoon tea.

He tells me he met his wife when they worked in the same insurance office back in 1942. He worked there until he retired in 1991.

“Yeah, she caught my eye. I was a quiet, shy boy back then,” he insists, although I’m not sure I believe him. He worked in insurance; she was a typist. They married in 1951 and now they have three children, three grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.

These days, he fills the rest of his time exercising, reading the papers and playing board games.

“The exercises are chair-based, they lift their arms and move their feet,” explains Kym.

“It’s bloody hard work!” Harry laughs.

“Oh, he wouldn’t go back if he didn’t enjoy it,” she says.

His other favourite pastime is chewing the fat with his mates at the Happy Hour on Wednesday afternoons. However, he laughs as he explained he’s become a bit sceptical about winning the weekly raffle.

“Last time, I won a big box of chocolates,” he says. Apparently, the nonagenarian sweet-tooth learnt the hard way not to eat them all at once. “I didn’t think it was possible to break out with acne in your nineties!”

Chelsea Richdale, activities and lifestyle coordinator for Ryman Healthcare, says the activities on offer are carefully coordinated according to residents’ likes and dislikes.

“The Engage program was created to provide a balanced program of physical, cognitive, emotional and spiritual needs for our residents,” she says.

“When a resident comes in to our villages, we want the village life to be an extension of where they have come from. Are they social, have they been involved in clubs, or do they prefer their own company?”

There are 10 core activities that are scheduled on a monthly calendar.

Harry for one loves the activities, and when he’s not busy engaging with the programs or visiting Shirley, he clearly enjoys sitting down for a chat and getting to know new people.

“In the library, you always end up having a bit of a chat to the bloke or the lady sitting next to you. There’s usually a game - what’s the one they play at night?” he asks Kym.

“Scrabble?” she replies.

“That’s the one with the words? Anyway, there’s always someone playing some sort of game in there. They also have News and Views twice a week, that’s very interesting,” he continues.

“That’s when they talk about articles in the newspaper and have discussions,” explains Kym, adding they also bring in keepsakes and knick knacks that they can talk about.

“One chap brought some handmade baby shoes that were about 150 years old. I brought in some tapestries my wife had done. You learn about everyone’s way of life, how they lived in their younger days.”

To be honest, we could have chatted all day. However, it’s late afternoon and time him to get up and go for his cup of tea with Shirley.

“Next time you’ll have to come and bring a glass of sherry,” he says as we say goodbye.

“I don’t mind a sherry. Straight from the fridge, it has to be cold.”