Blog from Eddie – Silverfit Founder
Launched in 2013, inspired by the London Olympics of 2012, our very first session was Hyde Park Nordic Walking, which is still going strong today! In the last ten years we’ve seen thousands of attendees join us across many London boroughs, we’ve entered half marathons, aquathlons, walking competitions and challenges, we’ve seen so many wonderful friendships blossom and the health and fitness of our members improve tenfold.
It has been wonderful to bring Silverfit to the lives of so many older people and I have personally enjoyed getting to know lots of new people over the last ten years, including our wonderful instructors, ambassadors, and volunteers along the way.
Since founding Silverfit, I have personally had so many opportunities to promote healthier, happier ageing in a range of conference appearances, podcasts and radio and TV opportunities, and social media. There seems to be increasing interest in an 80 yr old!! We know from our research in Silverfit that we are making a difference in promoting physical activity and the accompanying and vital socialising, thus reducing costs to our NHS.
So, as I write this, I am preparing for a meeting about another BBC filming opportunity! A Dutch company Good Habitz filmed me cycling, jog/walking along the Thames (view a trailer for their film here: https://youtu.be/5Oa5G-0hW_Q) I met with James Gallagher in Hyde Park to record Inside Health for Radio 4 which was such fun! https://tunein.com/podcasts/p377269/. And as I continue to prepare for another opportunity to Race Across America with our cycle relay team of four women in June 2024, JSNT Legends, I’ll be the oldest person ever to have done the race. So I know I’ll be able to talk about the fun of being ’SilverFit’, and raising funds for our charity.
Over the years, through regular meet ups and WhatsApp groups we’ve seen communities come together at each venue, we’ve held social events, Christmas events, and many of you may even remember the day we went on the zip wire at Archbishop’s Park!
We kept going through the pandemic with our online videos (which are still live now and available for you to watch at your leisure – https://www.youtube.com/@silverfitathome) and Zoom instructed sessions, and we managed to come out the other side with many venues and sessions being reinstated in 2021.
As you will all be aware, competition for funding this past year has been tough and we have regrettably had to close down a number of our sessions. This has been an extremely difficult decision as we know how important Silverfit classes have been to you all. Thankfully many of the sessions have kept running independently through our fantastic Silverfit instructors, or through the members themselves, and you can find out more here https://www.silverfit.org.uk/pastsessions-stillactive
However, I am optimistic about the outcome of several of our current funding applications for early January, so watch this space!
Our Fundraising appeal ‘Keep Silverfit Healthy’ https://justgiving.com/campaign/keepsilverfithealthy is still running and we welcome any donations towards the costs of keeping our sessions going…..what an ideal way to make that difference to Silverfit at Christmas.
All available January sessions are now listed on TicketTailor https://buytickets.at/silverfitcharity so please do book up for those as the income from TicketTailor bookings has proved vital to us over the last 6 months of using the system, and it seems to be one that the majority of attendees seem to be happy using!
So, as I resolve to get an updated blog out to you all on a monthly basis, all the best for Christmas and Happy New Year!
Best wishes,
Eddie Brocklesby.
