RETIREMENT EXAMPLES
We hope this series of short examples of how people are
making the most of their retirement will serve as both a source of ideas and
inspiration for your own retirement.
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retirement examples
Joan was one of the winners of the Laterlife Challenge in 2007
Joan Elliott, 65, Wirral,
Merseyside
Joan receiving her award with
some of her collection of bells in the background
A former occupational therapy
manager, Joan does a great deal of work to help others and has
developed her previous hobbies and interests much more fully in
retirement. In addition she now takes the opportunity to travel
to new places, make new friends worldwide and teach her
grandchildren activities she learnt as a child. She has just
returned from Bucharest taking items to an orphanage there.
Joan has always been an active member of Lions Clubs
International, and in 2004 – 2005 was elected to serve as
District Governor – the first lady in the district to hold this
office. The District covers, Wirral, Cheshire, Shropshire,
Staffordshire, and North Wales – a total of 66 clubs which had
to be visited during the year.
As a member of West Kirby Lions Club she is involved with
fundraising events, some of which include organising a Christmas
Star appeal which invites the public to donate a gift for a
child who will otherwise receive nothing at Christmas, reading
for their Talking Champion project – a recording of a local
magazine for the visually impaired on the Wirral - and
co-ordinating their ABC – Action for Babies and Children, a
project which distributes children’s clothes, toys, and blankets
to Eastern Europe.
For the future her aim is to initiate 2 projects for children in
Sri Lanka. One will be to obtain individual sponsorship for 20
children who attend a Lions Child Care centre. The centre was
built with funds raised during an appeal which she initiated
when District Governor in response to the Tsunami. The other is
to obtain reading books for schools in Sri Lanka and arrange
transportation of them to Colombo.
Joan’s hobby of many years has been collecting bells. Since
retirement she now has the time to research information about
bells and with her husband has formed a group for collectors –
Bell Collectors of the British Isles. She now has a collection
of over 800.
More of Joan's bell collection
Bells have also caused Joan to get to grips with a variety of
technological techniques including buying and selling on eBay. Earlier this
year she was invited to give a presentation to the American Bell
Association convention in Chicago which caused her to produce
digital images of her bells and incorporate them in a powerpoint
presentation for the first time. She’s also produced a simple
web page for the Bell Collectors of the British Isles club.
Joan now enjoys travelling and visiting places she didn’t have
time to during her working life. Lions Club international and
her bell collecting provide the opportunity but she says, ‘the
highlight for me was this year when we took a trip to Sri Lanka
and I celebrated my 65th birthday, with a seafood barbeque on a
torch lit beach with the Indian Ocean lapping at the rocks.
MAGIC!’
Back at home Joan also plays an important part in her
grandchildren’s lives during school holidays. As well as
creating a family scrap book for them she says, ‘I try to teach
them some activities which were taught to me as a child:gardening, rug making, cross stitch, craft work. Hopefully in
the future they will recall these skills and teach them to their
children’
And finally Joan likes to do her bit to ‘save the world’ making
use of the web site Freecycle to offer items to others which she no longer
needs.
