AofA's Hot To Trot Talking Points
Every Friday
They’re back!! After a January break, Advantages of Age’s Talking Points are back. And first of all we’re featuring a couple from Derbyshire…
An amazing story on Radio Derbyshire. ‘“We had a couple of babies that were so quiet, they didn’t cry.”
Christopher and Denise Mitchell from the Derbyshire Dales have spent decades caring for some of the county’s most vulnerable babies.
They’ve now been honoured with a British Citizen Award at the Palace of Westminster.’
2. The unstoppable Janet Street-Porter got married quietly for the fifth time at 79. We love Janet and admired her outfit here too. Although some of us remain defiantly non-married, we can’t help but cheer her on. She’s been with her present partner, Peter Stanton, for 20 years.
Great story by Raw Travel. Willoughby is 88 and still travelling solo. She also has mobility issues and simply asks the locals for help. She’s just been to Oaxaca here.
‘This is Willoughby, an 88-year-old, SOLO female traveler from Seattle. She spent 17 days at a hostel in the Historic Center of Oaxaca. I saw her at the airport and introduced myself as I had to learn her story.
This was her first visit to Oaxaca. She didn’t take any group tours but explored on her own every day. I asked her about mobility issues (she had a wooden, carved walking stick with her, presumably from Oaxaca), and she said there were issues. Still, there was always someone, usually a local Oaxacan, who would jump in to help... young and old, male and female. Given my own experience and observation in Oaxaca and Mexico in general, this does not surprise me. Older people are revered and treated with care, love, and respect.
Her motivation for traveling to Mexico was the same as mine: wanderlust and weather. Seattle was rainy (NYC was bitterly cold).
She usually travels with a partner, but he was unavailable for this trip. They are going to Hamburg, Germany, for a couple of months this spring to experience my favorite kind of travel, slow travel.
She doesn’t know Spanish (she speaks German and English), but says she intends to learn it so that she can return to Mexico again and have an even more impactful experience.
88 years old. Still traveling and still learning. Willoughby so inspires me. Maybe I will get to all of my “gotta get to” places after all... or at the very least make a dent.
It’s never too late to be the best version of yourself.’
This was an exhibition of photos by Martin Parr at the Hepworth in Wakefield in 2016 and is now part of their collection. Such a great gallery. Hoping to go there soon.
‘On this day in 2016, The Rhubarb Triangle And Other Stories: Photographs By Martin Parr - the visionary photographer who very sadly died last year - opened at The Hepworth Wakefield.
The largest Martin Parr exhibition in the UK since 2002 comprised more than 370 photographs spanning over 40 years of Parr’s celebrated works.
The Rhubarb Triangle, a new commission, lay at the heart of the exhibition; it comprised a series of photographs taken in 2014-16 in an area of West Yorkshire - delineated by Wakefield, Morley and Rothwell - known as ‘The Rhubarb Triangle’ which is famous for producing early-forced rhubarb.
Parr’s photographs captured all aspects of the rhubarb business, from the back-breaking work of moving the rhubarb from field to shed, the freezing cold and exhausting labour of picking the vegetable by candlelight (or occasionally by head-torch), and the consumption of the rhubarb by coach parties and food tourists.
The resulting photographs were generously donated to Wakefield’s permanent art collection by Parr so that people could enjoy them for generations to come.
Images: The Rhubarb Triangle And Other Stories: Photographs By Martin Parr. Reproduced courtesy of Martin Parr Foundation.’
5. London is full of talks on stuff we don’t know about and this sounds fascinating. By the RHS.
‘Discover the story of the world’s most unlikely gardening club, located within a WW1 internment camp, in our upcoming talk at the RHS Lindley Library
The Ruhleben Horticultural Society played a vital role in keeping up the morale of the 5,000 British men imprisoned in a German internment camp, from growing their own food to even organising flower shows!
When: Tuesday 17 February 1:15pm - 1:30pm
Where: RHS Lindley Library, 80 Vincent Square, London SW1P 2PE
Discover all of the RHS Lindley Library’s upcoming events: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/.../rhs-lindley-library...’
And for a final bit of fripperie - Vogue did a feature on the crazily fantastical shoes that have hit the runway.
https://www.vogue.co.uk/gallery/weirdest-high-heels-fashion-history?
The is the post everyone needs to read!! As we sleepwalk through our current ethically and legally corrupt world these stories are a tonic - and a reminder of the human capacity for kindness, empathy and optimism -not to mention resilience. And oh, those shoes!!!