Midlands Active Retirement Ireland health and wellbeing event

All roads lead to the Tullamore Court Hotel on Thursday, June 5, for the Midlands Region Active Retirement Ireland Summer Health and Wellbeing Event which takes place from 9.30am to 3.30pm.

This event is sponsored by Dovida (formerly Home Instead), the theme is To Live Better and Live Longer at Home.

This annual free event is always an enjoyable time for Active Retirement Ireland members and the public to come together and mingle as they browse the stands, listen to very interesting speakers, have a chat over lunch and finish off with a bit of dancing.

For Active Retirement Ireland members there will be an opportunity to meet with National President Mai Quaid and recently appointed CEO Fran Brennan, who will attend on the day and address the meeting.

The Midland Region Committee of nine volunteers has been working busily the past few months to put together an exciting programme of events so that the day will be both informative and fun filled. There will be over 20 exhibition stands with information on various aspects of Health and Wellbeing, Health Checks, Age Friendly Healthy Homes Co-ordinator, Midlands Public Participation Network and Hotel Planner to name but a few. Author Dolores Keaveney will be present on the day with her most recent children’s books and for anyone who likes a bit of sparkle Baavet will be present with their assortment of bags and jewellery.

There will be a number of interesting speakers in the morning, starting with Dr Mary Doolan and Amanda Caulfield, HSE at 10.30am who will speak on the Integrated Care Programme for Older People (ICPOP). This programme is a new initiative for older people and the service is operating in Westmeath/Longford and Offaly/Laois. This will be followed by Grace Dignam, Creative Communities Engagement Officer, who will make a presentation and speak on accessing grants from Creative Ireland. There is a wealth of creative talent among older adults. The final session is a panel discussion on travel with managers of Local Link in Longford, Westmeath, Laois and Offaly. Transport is an ongoing issue for older people and any information on local services, including the use of the Community Bus is always very welcome.

There will be a break for attendees to get refreshments at lunch time followed by music and dancing at 1.30 pm.

A raffle will take place at 2.10pm with a large number of interesting prizes up for grabs, starting with a one-night bed and breakfast in an iNUA Hotel, evening meal for two in the Tullamore Court Hotel, voucher for trip with McGinley Travel, voucher sponsored by Dovida and Newtownforbes ARA and many, many more prizes.

The committee look forward to seeing you there on the day. Please send further enquiries to Midlands Region Secretary, Kitty: kburkhill@yahoo.com or Anne at 087 2077078

Active Retirement Ireland is the largest membership led organisation for older people in Ireland with 22,000 members in over 500 Active Retirement Associations nationwide.

The Midlands region comprises of four counties – Longford, Westmeath, Offaly and Laois; there are sixty Active Retirement Associations in the Midlands region.