The sleepy northern town of Sedgefield, County Durham, is home to an almost seventy-year-old social club. The Club, as it’s known by its members, is frequented mostly by the senior residents of the village. Three men, sixty-seven-year-old John Roper, sixty-year-old Owen Murr, and ninety-year-old George Trotter were interviewed. The men have lived in Sedgefield for a long time. They were able to provide a poignant insight into their changing lives telling how it feels to grow older in a rural community.
All threeindicate that they did not feel as though their age negatively changed other people’s perceptions of them. Each of them suggested their age was reflected positively by the people around them.
Owen answered: “If people treat me differently I think they treat me with a little bit more respect, I think I’m seen as a pretty strong person”.
Two of the gentlemen responded similarly when asked if they felt ‘old’. Interestingly, they both said they feel mentally as though they were still young men, but they have felt the physical effects of aging.
“My brain still thinks I’m 21, it’s my body that doesn’t agree”
“No, I don’t feel old. Not in the least,” replied Owen, “I still feel 18, my body feels old because my hips ache when I’m walking, but up here (points to head) no, fine and dandy.”
Responses from the men varied when asked if they enjoyed being older. Owen felt his life has become more difficult; his wife has been experiencing premature Alzheimer’s disease for several years now, and he has taken early retirement to be her full-time carer.
“It gets tough”
George, on the other hand, said: “I feel as if I’ve come back home. I really do. I’ve found that I’ve got more friends than I thought I had”. He has been unwell for some periods of time over the past couple of years, and he suggested that this has made him fully appreciate the things he has in his life, particularly his friends. He said, “I have some very good friends. (They’ve) been very good to me, especially when I’ve not been well.”
The final question speculated how the men felt they are perceived by others. All three found it difficult to respond; they all seemed unsure about how they as individuals came across in the eyes of other people.
John said: “I don’t know how others see me. What you see is what you get with me, that’s about as much as I can say.”
The time spent with these men in Sedgefield gives insight into how it feels to grow older, and what being an older member of society means to different individuals.