The Advantages of Age Awards 2025 – the afterglow and my reflections

Collaboration is important

Alex Rotas on the left, Anne Dockery on the right, by Richard Kaby

‘Oh my, what an AMAZING evening!! It was incredible from the moment we stepped inside the door to Hoxton Hall, the vibe was so supportive, inclusive, joyous, welcoming and uplifting. True community, as so many people said. Wow though, what a lot of work was behind it all – your knowledge alone and appreciation of (actually make that ‘love for’) everyone on your shortlist was a warm beacon of solidarity in itself.’ Alex Rotas ground breaking photographer of older athletes and finalist in our Anti-Ageist Activist Category

I’d honestly like to spend my life giving out awards. So often our award winners – take Ani Wilsher, who won our FB Contributor Award, she was totally overwhelmed in the sweetest way by the fact that she’d got an award or Marisa Mendez who co-won the Style Queen award, who was in tears as she accepted it. Tears of joy but also tears perhaps of not getting enough recognition along the way. And our AofA Awards are all about deep appreciation. And I can’t help feeling that society would be so much better if we all did it more.

Ani Wilsher

People said frequently at the end – ‘Well there is no other awards ceremony like this one.’

And we – Suzanne Noble – and I are very proud of that aspect of our awards evening. I think it’s true to say that no-one except us could have put together such an eclectic night of delights. I’ve always said that it is possible to be flamboyant in style and equally serious. And it is important too. ‘The Alternative Miss World of the Ageing Awards World,’ I am wont to declare. Which means we are celebrating creativity and a kind of raw outrageousness as well as pro-ageing individuals and organisations.

Maggi Evans from Hourglass with Tony Burch from Age UK London on the right by Richard Kaby

Something else struck me hugely on the evening itself and that was how small organisations who deal with challenges around ageing – like Hourglass, the charity that won our Pro-Ageing Organisation Award are the only UK charity to focus on ending the abuse of older people – who struggle to be seen because the media is so negatively biased again anything to do with older people. And violence to older people is almost never mentioned. And I witnessed just how full of joy, the recipients of our awards, were. Because the outside world/media so rarely champions their work. Despite them being so deserving.

Cathi Rae by Monique Roffey

Dr Cathi Rae, our keynote speaker, who came down from Leicester for the evening, made many points about older people and what a huge chasm there is these days between work coming to an end and the state pension. ‘We’re going to have to talk about how older people survive until they get their pension, now the age to get it, is 67 and rising,’ she mentioned.

Something else that has been on my mind is – all the individuals who are doing amazing work re challenging stereotypes around ageing and how they struggle financially to survive. Quite a few recipients of our awards – including Justine Gaubert who founded The Crone Club in Sheffield for post-menopausal women or crones-in-waiting – mentioned how difficult it was to keep going. And that collaboration is the way forward. We totally agree and hope that the Awards Ceremony itself is a place to connect or ‘mingle’ as I say and make these important relational links with others. And I saw it happen before my very eyes. Justine, the active Crone that she is, was out and about around the theatre, making great links with other people. No doubt, they’ll all become features in the Crone Club magazine, Tits to the Wind.

Justine Gaubert accepting her Pro-Ageing Club award for The Crone Club by Leonie Fleming

Several audience members including Louise Chunn – former editor of glossy magazines who now runs the find a therapist site, Welldoing.org and was also a judge – said she floated home because the awards ceremony had been so uplifting and so inclusive around ageing of the vulnerability as well as all the bounce.

Which brings me to that warm feeling of community and how vital that is for the world of age activists. ‘True community, as so many people said’ writes photographer, Alex Rotas and that’s how it felt. Bringing people together is one of my principal enjoyments in life. And this time included the extravagant and extra-colourful joint winners of our Style Queen category – Aless Bester and Marisa Mendez who were adorned and bedecked in their own red creations – as well Crazy Auntie Ann who had come down with her family from Bradford and was the recipient of our Ageing Differently Influencer award. The latter is known for her very funny videos on Tik Tok where she plays pan lids on a hob as though they are decks and she is DJing and singing along. ‘It was truly a gathering: an extraordinary bringing-together of so many of us from across the country, all working in our own different ways yet towards the same end of challenging tired ageist attitudes, practices and stereotypes. It was just so wonderful (I need more superlatives),’ says Alex Rotas.

Aless Bester, joint Style Queen winner, Substack FB writer nominee, Elizabeth Shanley, joint Style Queen winner, Marisa Mendez and Style King winner, Paul Jeremy

We were so moved by just how far people had travelled to get to the awards. And that in itself seemed to underline the urgency of the need to celebrate all of their organisations and activities as well to actually meet in the flesh. Stella Fosse – writer who was a finalist in the Pro-Ageing Non-Fiction Category for her book Rock On – Power, Sex and Money after 60 – had flown in from Oregon with her publisher. Amazing. She said she was really helped on her healing journey with cancer as she heard the news about this nomination seven weeks after an operation. People came from Bradford, Sheffield, Inverness, Bristol – it was a night when northern accents were in abundance which made me feel thrilled because I’m from Yorkshire and I never want Advantages of Age to feel only London-centric.

Oh and our awards were the sort of place where the marketing woman for our headline sponsors, PensionBee, turned up in a long pink fake fur coat that would have gone down well with George Clinton! Yes and yes. Thanks for doing that Rachael Oku.

That pink fake fur!

One member of the audience wrote to us – ‘You and Suzanne have really created something great - winkling out all those interesting writers, dressers and particularly the community projects.’ And I think she’s referring to organisations like Hackney All Ages Project which is a brilliant charity that operates on Thursdays at the Round Chapel in Clapton. I was particularly happy that they won in that category, the Pro-Ageing Social Club one, because they are intergenerational and inspirational. I have also been along. There is a creche in one room with activities for young children to do with their carers and then an Over 50s dance session in the other room, they come together to eat wonderful, very reasonably priced Thai food at lunch time. And they were so thrilled about winning – four of them appeared on stage and told us the benefits of their project. It was wonderful. And the other finalists included the Over 60s disco run by Exeter Library. So much more to celebrate.

All Ages Hackney posse

So many people wanted more information about all these organisations/individuals/books/articles at the end. So many people talked about how amazed they are that there is so much more out there than they imagined. And I haven’t even mentioned the Grooviest End of Life category which has so many nominations and six innovative finalists including the winners, sisters Kate and Lynsey Vigurs from Sunderland, Dead Good Legacies that provide death education as well as funeral services and Lifting the Lid Festival which is an online yearly few days where the conversation around death and dying has been opened up in a brilliant way.

We are not going to do the Advantages of Age Awards every year but rather every two years. So see you in 2027 but if you’d like to nominate people, do get in touch… And we hope there will be so much more collaboration in the meantime.

Suzanne and I by Ben Cornish