Colleen Carr, pictured with husband Terry, has retired after 25 years as Ashhurst Senior Citizens Association president. The couple have been married 62 years and have eight great-grandchildren. Photo / Judith Lacy
Colleen Carr, pictured with husband Terry, has retired after 25 years as Ashhurst Senior Citizens Association president. The couple have been married 62 years and have eight great-grandchildren. Photo / Judith Lacy
It is 50 years since five Ashhurst churches got together to provide entertainment and friendship for senior citizens in the town.
The Ashhurst Senior Citizens Association celebrated its 50th anniversary on July 4 with a party attended by about 100 people.
The Campbell Street Boys had many at the Village Valley Centre tapping toes and fingers to well-known songs.
Colleen Carr, who has retired after 25 years as president, stood in for new president Trish Beattie, whose husband was in hospital.
Carr, 82, was one of the Guildford Street Chapel representatives who helped start the association.
Fellow founding members Heather Fairless and Yvonne Osborne were also at the celebration, as was patron Rosemary Pinkney, who was the secretary for many years.
The first meeting of the Ashhurst Senior Citizens Association took place on July 4, 1974.
The minutes record the meeting was most successful with 24 attendees despite the cold, wet afternoon. A “christening cake” was cut by the oldest man and woman present.
Some of the 100-strong crowd at the 50th-anniversary celebrations for Ashhurst Senior Citizens Association on July 4. Photo / Judith Lacy
John McCaw spoke about his travels to South America and the special guest was Justine Gandar, wife of Ruahine MP Les Gandar.
The person with the lucky cup - a sticker under their tea cup - won a prize, a tradition that continues.
A newspaper report of the first meeting said the association was a great way for people to get to know folk with whom they were only on a nodding acquaintance.
At the 50th party, anyone who had a birthday in July was presented with an orchid to wear on their shirts. Coincidentally, three of the four members of the Campbell Street Boys are July babies.
The Campbell Street Boys perform at the 50th-anniversary celebrations for the Ashhurst Senior Citizens Association. Photo / Judith Lacy
Colleen Carr’s husband, Terry, 85, has finished his stint as association secretary. Last year, he retired from his job as a security guard at Linton Military Camp and the couple are keen to visit relatives up north.
Terry said the association had always been a happy group with no dissension.
Colleen said there are an average of 30 people at the monthly meeting, but there are more Ashhurst residents who could attend. She receives feedback that people think they have to be on Zimmer frames to attend.
Colleen believes one societal change affecting attendance is so many people are working beyond 65. She said 80 is the new 70. “I reckon everything has gone back 10 years.”
Grandparents can be busy looking after grandchildren or with other activities, meaning not as many people find the time to come. “Once they do they love it.”
The monthly hostess groups, which organise the entertainment or speaker and provide afternoon tea, have become more secular.
The association starts the year with a February picnic and outing.
Otherwise, it meets on the first Thursday of the month from 2-4pm in the Methodist hall, Bamfield St.
The Ashhurst Senior Citizens Association's 50th-anniversary cake was made and iced by Colleen and Terry Carr. Photo / Judith Lacy
Judith Lacy has been the editor of the Manawatū Guardian since December 2020. She graduated from journalism school in 2001 and this is her second role editing a community paper.
