Mick Jagger turns 70 on July 26. And as he takes to the stage during the Rolling Stones’ “50 and Counting” North American tour, he’s still wowing audiences with his performances. Check out this video of last Saturday’s duet on “Beast of Burden” in Las Vegas with 28-year-old Katy Perry.

With that in mind, you never know what to expect when they ask a bunch of “seniors” to get on stage and strut their stuff. Senior Star is a talent competition open to anyone 65 years and older and a Canadian resident. Contestants get five minutes on-stage to sing a song, play an instrument, or do both. (Not to mention throwing in a little dancing as the spirit moves them. Check out Maggie Viveen’s tap interlude:)

Now in its seventh year, the contest is holding local auditions, and while Senior Star is put on by “another” retirement community, you don’t have to be resident there to take part.

More music

Dale Murray at the 2011 finals.

Barry Gardner channels Nat King Cole at a local competition in Pickering.

Registration

These days, retirement might just be another word for your second career. And that can be rejuvenating, says Meaford’s Liz Scott.

Liz has long had a passion for music. And for the last 12 years, she’s brought musicians and audiences together at her home on Irish Mountain overlooking Meaford and the sweep of Nottawasaga Bay. (The 100th Irish Mountain House Concert is scheduled for July 27.)

“What I love about live music is that we can all sit together and experience something, but each person gets something different from a song or lyrics or melody,” says Liz “It speaks differently to everyone. The rewarding part is being able to enjoy myself and know that other people are experiencing something special and that I’ve helped to bring the musician and the audience together.”

Booking her non-profit concerts, along with her involvement as a judge and presenter with the Ontario Council of Folk Festivals, kept her in the thick of the folk music scene, and Liz would often informally recommend artists to other presenters and promoters. Gradually, she found herself being called on to program for-profit gigs, such as the Village Vibe series at the Village at Blue Mountain. She became manager for Canadian roots and blues artist Mark Reeves. And then she was asked to become Artistic Director for Ontario’s Eaglewood Folk Festival. All while continuing her career as a full-time teacher.

But a year ago, she decided to retire from teaching and take up music and artist promotion more seriously. “I decided after 25 years of teaching, I felt like doing something a little bit different,” says Liz. “And since my passion has been music for the last bunch of years, I thought I could do more to help bring music to people and help musicians.”

Before long, she’d also been recruited by Firebones Management, a major Canadian artist management company, and she now represents a number of acts, including Suzie Vinnick, Wendell Ferguson, David Celia, Rob Lutes and Steve Poltz, along with Reeves.

Liz Scott with husband, Rich Fletcher, left and Canadian icon Valdy.

The shift hasn’t been a total breeze, but Liz is enjoying her second career.

“It’s tough work,” says Liz, “and I still miss the kids at school and that part of my life. But it’s a brand new energy for me. The learning curve is really high, and it will take awhile to find my feet, but it’s exciting. It’s rejuvenating. It’s injected something different into my life.”

Meaford’s 55+ Friendship Club will be publishing a book about the club’s beginnings, and creating a new logo to help them with their promotion and fundraising, thanks to a $4,700 grant from the federal New Horizons for Seniors program.

The 55+ Friendship Club is a popular Meaford social group, which devotes volunteer time to the community and raises funds for the Alzheimer’s Association, tags for cancer research, and cares for various town gardens by planting and watering.

The club, which began in 1995, is open to men and women, retired or not, who are 55 years old and older, and boasts a mix of newcomers to the Meaford area as well as those who have lived here all their lives.

Meetings provide a chance to talk to others with similar interests; hear speakers on topics of current or special interest; play games; enjoy craft days with member displays; participate in “show and tell days”; and gather for parties celebrating Hallowe’en, St. Patrick’s Day, Valentine’s Day and Christmas.

The final meeting of the year, before the summer break, usually involves a special outing, such as a picnic, a luncheon trip, or a pot-luck dinner.

If you’re interested in getting involved with the club, head to the Meaford-St. Vincent Community Centre on a Tuesday at 2 p.m., or call Leo Girard, at 519.538.3035 to learn more.

As Meaford Haven moves ahead in finding and evaluating builders for this unique small town Ontario retirement community, North East Grey Health Clinic is moving full-steam ahead on plans to have Meaford’s new health clinic in operation. Last fall, Desmond von Teichman told Meaford Council that the need for new doctors in Meaford means it’s important to build the $2.1 million clinic sooner than originally planned.

A Meaford property owner has donated land next door to Meaford Haven for the 6,000 square foot clinic, which will be able to accommodate four doctors and a physiotherapist.

“Very simply, and in Thornbury it was proven, without a clinic we’re not going to get new physicians,” von Teichman told council. “Immediately after the [Thornbury] health centre was opened we [leased] every spot in it, and we now instead of two doctors, we have four doctors, and a fully fledged physiotherapy office in there as well.”

In addition to the clinic, Meaford Haven’s plans include a commercial block which will be aimed at offering additional space for health and medical practitioners and suppliers.

Had a chat with a friend the other day, and was surprised to learn she has just begun her “continuing class” (that is, the next level after beginner) of Taost Tai Chi, right here in Meaford. The two-hour sessions, which involve numerous excercises, just got more complicated and intense, she says.

Based on the traditional schools of this internal Chinese martial art, Taoist Tai Chi is a set of gentle, slow moving exercises aimed at improving your health and fitness, no matter what your age. Classes continue pretty much weekly throughout the year.

If you’re interested, now’s the time to check it out. On Monday, from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., the group is holding an open house at Meaford Arena. Meet the instructor and learn more about this complex and rewarding practice. Visit the website. Or contact Judy Birch at 519-538-0288.

While you might dismiss this as common sense, Newsday recently reported this “startling” fact, citing a recently concluded study by researchers at the University of Western Ontario and the Yale School of Public Health.

But seriously, the results suggest – as the researchers noted – that you might want to include psychological planning for retirement along with more traditional planning – such as financial planning, travel and activities.

The long-term study followed 394 retired folks from small-town Ohio for 23 years and concluded that those who said they enjoyed retirement lived almost five years longer than those who confessed they were unhappy in retirement (after adjusting for employment status, health and socioeconomic status.)

The important variable seemed to be a positive attitude toward retirement (or ATR, as the researchers dub it.) Those with a positive ATR lived a median 4.9 years longer while those with a negative ATR were 1.71 times more likely to pass away.

So working on building a positive attitude toward retirement (and aging in general) is a worthwhile investment. This might involve envisioning how you want to spend your retirement years, where you’d enjoy living, what activities you’d love to participate in, and what social activities you’d enjoy – and then taking steps to build these into your retirement lifestyle. The act itself can be a positive step to help you have good feelings about retirement; by planning to enjoy a meaningful and active retirement, you probably will.

Back in 2007, Stephen Lewis, Canada’s former UN ambassador and the former UN special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, spoke at Meaford’s United Church about the plight of grandmothers in many sub-Saharan African countries.

With AIDS rampant in many countries, these women have stepped in to care for their orphaned grandchildren – sometimes caring for as many as 10 to 15 in one household. One estimate suggests that 40 to 60 percent of orphans live in grandmother-headed households. After burying their own adult children, and often with little support, they do their best to care for and raise the children. “They display astonishing reserves of love, courage and emotional resilence, even while grieving the loss of their own adult children,” says the Stephen Lewis Foundation’s website.

The Foundation’s Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign had stepped in to provide support for these women, raising funds to invest at the community level – food, educational supplies, medical care, counselling, programs to help them become self-sufficent and more.

Hearing the stories, a small group of women in the audience that day decided to start their own local fundraising chapter, and Meaford Grannies was soon an active fundraising group.

Meaford Grannies holds a number of fundraisers every year, including a garage sale, plant sales, and a slient auction, and they welcome new members to help run the events.

If you’re looking for a worthy cause to get involved with during your retirement, this might be it. Becoming a Meaford Granny is easy – just let them know. (In fact, you don’t have to be a granny – or even a woman – to be part of the effort.)

Your help to raise local funds will have a huge impact on African grandmothers in these difficult circumstances.

For more information, call Sandy Farrell at 519-538-4259.

Last week we mentioned Meaford’s Volunteer Fair, held as part of “Focus on Seniors” at Meaford Hall. Focus on Seniors also features a free speaker series directed at retirees, which kicked off at the Volunteer Fair with a talk on volunteering. Tomorrow, the series continues with an introduction to genealogy packed with tips and ideas to get your started on exploring your family tree. Carole Stuart, Coordinator of Local History and Genealogy at the Collingwood Public Library will fire you up with practical advice on how to take the first steps to discovering more about your family’s past.

Every second Wednesday (with a short break over Christmas) at 1 p.m. – right up until April 17 – you can meet with others at Meaford Hall to enjoy a social gathering, light refreshments and stimulating talks.

Upcoming topics include how to avoid the “winter blahs”, financial advice, and intriguing presentations on everything from our local apple and agri-industry to one writer’s case for the theory that ancient Celts visited Ontario.

Get the full schedule here. (Click on “Learning, Fitness and Fun”.)

If you need accessible transportation, simply call the Hall Box Office at 519.538.0463 to book a free ride.

Retirement opens up a host of opportunities to expand your activities – and a lot of retirees plunge quickly into volunteering for local groups, causes and charities. If that sounds like you, you’ve come to the right place. Your opportunities to volunteer during your Meaford retirement are many and varied.

Last week, we took part in Meaford’s Volunteer Fair, held at Meaford Hall as part of the Focus on Seniors event going on there over the next few months. Twenty groups took part, showcasing what they do and how you could help.

These included Heritage Meaford, the Meaford Grannies, Alzheimer Society of Grey Bruce, the Beaver Valley Bruce Trail Club, Habitat for Humanity Grey Bruce, the Rotary Club of Meaford, and Ted Brown the producer of Women and War (on tonight at Meaford Hall) and a director of local community theatre – which is always on the lookout for volunteer actors, production people, directors and costume makers.

That’s just the tip of the volunteer iceberg in Meaford. Prominent boards and groups include Friends of the Meaford Library, the Meaford Museum board, Adopt-a-garden/Communities in Bloom, the Beautiful Joe Heritage Society, the Bighead River Heritage Association, and service groups beyond the Rotary, including the Lions, the Kinsmen/Kinettes and the Optimist Club.

More here.

Then there’s the opportunity to coach or otherwise help out local athletics, including hockey, soccer, softball and more.

One of Meaford’s community groups is experiencing great support at the moment with Kraft’s Food For Families. Golden Town Outreach, the Meaford food bank, is currently first in donations in Ontario on the site, which will donate additional funds to the winner. Every time you visit and select Golden Town Outreach, the group receives a donation of 50 cents.

If you still need volunteer ideas, check out these top 10 volunteer activities for retirees.

Bill Monahan moved to Meaford three years ago after a varied career, including 15 years in the electronics field. When he took to the stage as a contestant in this week’s Dragons’ Den Meaford, he was asked if moved to Meaford to retire? “No,” replied Bill. “I moved here to start a new business.”

But Bill’s most recent venture, a spin-off from his HomeButtons Electronic Systems, is directed at Meaford retirees. HomeButtons Special Care is devoted to sales and installation of electronic devices that can help people age at home.

Yes, retiring can be cool! Here are some of the latest tech tools and toys Bill has on offer.

For some retired folks, email is more of a hassle than it’s worth. Not so with the MailBug email system. Instead of using a computer, this handy device uses your phone line to send and retrieve email from trusted senders. No need to learn complicated software, and no worries about virus attacks.

The doctor just gave you yet another prescription or recommended another daily pill. Yet another hassle, you mean. Enter the e-pill Multi-Alarm TimeCap. Pop it on your pill bottle, and you not only get a reminder of when to take your medication – but it reminds you of when you took your last one.

As we age, a simple stroll can be better with some safeguards. The SafeLink GPS Wander Monitor is a small bracelet or pager-size communicator that allows loved ones to monitor the wearer on Google Maps – including the option to set an alert when he or she goes beyond a geographical boundary. And an SOS button lets the wearer send an alert in case something happens. Just to make it cooler, it also functions as a watch and a cell phone.

In addition to selling these devices, Bill recognizes that some less-than-e-savvy retired folks might be more tempted to throw them out the window than to use them – so he also handles the installation and training to make sure people are totally comfortable with their new toys.

Check out more of Bill’s devices here.