Ten years ago, serial entrepreneur Suzanne Noble and I were new friends. She was 55 and I was 63. We gathered with other older women in Suzanne’s hot tub for laughter but also passionate discussion about our dating lives, our friendships, our work, our travel.
At one point, we started talking about how older women were depicted in the media. We were angry about older women being portrayed as saggy, tired, unsexy grannies (one of our objections that is still ongoing is that older women are so often headlined as “grannies” when we are not all grandmothers). We are still angry about this misrepresentation. We are women who are involved with all sorts of exciting projects, who love our lives – why weren’t we being more accurately represented out there?
Hence, we created Advantages of Age, to challenge the media narrative around ageing. Ten years later, there are more organisations and individuals doing great pro-ageing work – we have put on two Advantages of Age Awards Ceremonies to celebrate charities and small local groups (from the wonderful All Ages Project in Hackney to the divinely rebellious Crone Club in Sheffield as well as individuals like the DJ from Bradford Crazy Auntie Ann) – however there is still a lot more work to be done.
Over 65s are already a huge demographic in the UK – there are 12.7 million of us, 16,600 over 100 – and our numbers are swelling. And yet still Advantages of Age struggle to get coverage in the mainstream press presumably because we are still perceived as “unsexy” in a brand way. Youth is still the gold at the end of the selling rainbow in this way. PensionBee are leading the way is reversing this trend. They supported our Awards and now our first conference, in other words, Rebel Later Life: the ideas party.
In the afterglow of our second Awards Ceremony last November, we were touched by how many new connections were being made by our nominees and by our wider community. We saw how needed this creative tribe was. For each other to feel valued and seen. That so often it is a tough pursuit – getting funding, for instance – creating these groups and projects. And we also saw that so many of our community don’t know what each other are doing.
Hence, Suzanne and I came up with the idea of our very first conference. In keeping with our overall ethos – the Sunday Times called us ‘the punks of getting older’ – we called it Rebel Later Life: the ideas party. We wanted to add a bit of spice to the discussion too. We are not the lie down and grit our teeth sort of women. Yes, there is a panel discussion on 'Ageism and Words' chaired by the inimitable Insta older woman style sensation Cathi Rae (Welldoing’s very own Louise Chunn is also on that panel) but there is also 'Re-design Your Relationship After 50' chaired by journalist, author and counsellor, Lucy Cavendish as well as 'How To Have A Funky Funeral' by dynamic Kate Dyer and Kate Tim who founded Coffin Club UK.
The intention is to share ideas around living and dying as we grow older. How to live richly – even if we’re not wealthy and one of the key discussions is 'What If We Don’t Have Enough Pension' – and also die with attitude. Societal attitudes are changing – my mother couldn’t talk about her own death let alone plan her own funeral – but we have still got a long way to go.
Nobel, who co-founded Start Up School for Seniors and Sex Advice for Seniors has done lots of research over the last 10 years. “I’ve been working with people over 50 since 2016. That’s 10 years of listening to what my generation has to say, and I’ve come to realise when It comes to growing older, internalised ageism is rife. In other words, criticising ourselves and others because we are influenced by the pro-young marketing everywhere. Or using outdated terminology. Not being able to state our ages. When it comes to living life on our own terms as we get older, there are not enough role models.
“Which is why our conference Rebel Later Life: the ideas party is so important. It will give attendees ideas – and we want to listen to theirs – about stepping into creativity, about creating relationships that you want rather than ones you think you should have, about doing the sort of work that you’d like to do despite ageism in the workplace and about what kind of funeral planning you could be doing and much more.”
And if you’re feeling as if you need a bit more pizzazz in your style, then we will be here with a Flamboyance Forever Photo Booth with photographer, Peter Wallis. The feather boa, the head dress, the colours – they will all be there.
I’ve always said that we can be flamboyant as well as serious. And that one does not detract from the other. We intend to do both at.
Rebel Later Life: the ideas party is on Saturday October 10 at Cecil Sharp House, it is an all day event and you can now buy tickets without lunch for £29.99.
