Sep 05, 2008 - 04:37 AM

By Charles McGregor

DURHAM -- It’s been 40 years for the Oshawa Senior Citizens Centres (OSCC) and 10 for the Clarington  Older Adult Association (COAA), so both organizations have included anniversary celebrations in their fall programming.

And they’re not the only ones planning celebrations. In Whitby, they’ll be “Celebrating Milestones” for Whitby Seniors Services (WSS) members who have reached those special ages of 80, 85, 90 and over and will also “Celebrate the Journey” at a Seniors Information and Active Living Fair.

These are only the highlights of September in fall programming for adults 55 years and up in each of these communities. All share the objectives of promoting the health, welfare and happiness of seniors by providing continuing programs and services to foster senior empowerment, social interaction, public education and advocacy.

In Oshawa, Colleen Zavrel, leisure programs manager at OSCC, said when their John Street building was completed in 1968, “it was built and furnished with the help of community members, local service groups and 175 seniors. Oshawa’s community has proudly taken responsibility and thanks to their support, OSCC today has over 6,000 participants involved in three branches with the fourth -- Conant Branch, South Oshawa -- getting ready for its official opening.”

In addition to children’s’ activities, a barbecue and cake and the ribbon cutting, there’ll be demonstrations of all the programs and services offered at the Conant branch and at the Oshawa Health Centre, with whom they share the building.

In connection with the 40th anniversary, there’ll be open houses at all OSCC branches, beginning with Northview (Beatrice Street) on Sept. 8, Legends, (Harmony Road North) Sept. 9, Conant, (Grassmere Avenue) Sept. 10, and the main branch on John Street on Sept. 11.

Adding Conant gives OSCC the ability to offer convenient access for its services to more city residents, Ms. Zavrel said.

While the official opening at Conant won’t be until Oct. 4, it’s open now for folks to have a look and check into registration for programs which interest them. All members of the public are welcome at the opening and OSCC staff are expecting many of their members to bring their grandchildren during the 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. period to enjoy the fun and festivities.

To further mark the celebrations, OSCC is sponsoring the Ruby Gala: 40 Jewelled Years . . . A Ruby Celebration,” a dinner-dance to be held on Nov. 6 from 5:30 to 10 p.m. at the new Conant branch. Local entertainers and music groups will perform in a variety show following dinner. Tickets are $22.

“We’ve already had a huge subscription for our fall registration -- 1,400 people in our first day,” Ms. Zavrel said. “Tremendous signs of the seniors looking for things to do and supporting what we offer for them.”

She said that the most popular programs involve fitness, with music-oriented ones like Jazzercize attracting many participants.

“The really new one is Zumba, which is fitness to an African beat and it’s only available at Conant,” she said.

There’s also Clogging and Aqua Yoga, a new class at the pool in the South Oshawa Community Centre.

Unique to the Conant branch is Chit-and-Chat, social chatting with background music to bring people together, which will also include entertainment and light refreshments. There’ll also be a Snowbird Send-off in late October to offer good wishes to those wintering in the south.

Clarington’s 10th anniversary celebration will feature a variety of events at the Beech Centre, said Jo-Anne Spena at COAA. These will include: euchre extravaganza, Sept. 13, 3 to 8 p.m.; open house, Sept. 14, 1 to 4 p.m.; anniversary celebration, Sept. 15, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.; luncheon, Sept. 16, noon; Lions pancake breakfast, Sept. 17, 9 a.m. to noon; anniversary celebration Sept. 18 10 a.m. to 3 p.m; gala dinner and dance, Sept. 19, 6 p.m. (Advance tickets and/or registration required for some events so contact the centre at 905-697-2856 or at claringtonolderadults.ca for more details.)

Ms. Spena said that in addition to the full schedule of programs in which their members participate, there are some new ones for the coming year. These include Acting 101; Theatre Arts; Conversational French Lessons; Grand and Tots, where grandparents play and work with 2-4-year-olds; Mexican Train, lessons in the growing-in-popularity dominoes-style parlour game; NIA fitness, Neuromuscular Integrative Action exercises; On the Ball and Stretch and Dance exercise programs.

“Exercise programs are among the most popular ones we offer and our members will be able to learn how to do the NIA techniques in this free instructional online fitness course,” Ms. Spena said. “It’s a really interesting body-mind-spirit fitness and lifestyle practice which blends a number of movement forms including Tai Chi, jazz dance, Akidio and yoga, among others. It empowers people to achieve physical, mental emotional and spiritual wellbeing.”

Also new at COAA this fall will be tap dancing and violin instruction for beginners, stamp collecting, table tennis and instruction and participation in Wii, the fun interactive game console which allows users to ”play” tennis, golf, and bowling or to engage in a bout of boxing.

Debbie Wilson, supervisor of senior services at WSS, said that for the Celebrate the Journey community event on Sept. 24, “The whole centre (on Brock Street) is being used to help us ‘Celebrate the Journey’ to fitness, to nutrition, to financial health and other things like that in what we’re calling a health information and active living fair. Our multi-service rooms will be turned into different topic areas and we’ll have about 30 booths for agencies and businesses related to seniors.”

She said that this is a new event, open to the public, much bigger than ones previously staged, thanks to “additional funding we’ve received from the Older Adult Centres Association through the provincial Ontario Seniors Secretariat.”

The Celebrating Milestones event on Sept. 11 at Heydenshore Pavilion is being organized to honour WSS members who “have reached those special milestones of 80, 85, 90 and over,” she said. “We sent out over 200 invitations. We have that many members in those age groups. It would be great if they all came.”

One of the most anticipated events will be Grand Day on Sept. 13, an event for grandparents and grandchildren.

“It’s something we’ve done for many, many years,” Ms. Wilson said. “It’s a very popular intergenerational event. We have face painting and (fake) tattoos, crafts balloons, Dan the Music Man, all the kinds of things that kids love. And the best thing is a photo booth where the grandparents can have their pictures taken with the grandchildren.”

There’ll also be a Toonie Lunch Special.

Not surprisingly, the Boot Camp for Seniors program, which was introduced last year, is back and there’s strong demand from prospective participants.

“We learned that the more active seniors really enjoy these fitness challenges -- and the instructor is a ‘toughie’ (no names, no pack drill.)”

It’ll be held Sept. 15, 18 and 19, weather permitting in Rotary Park, or in the Seniors Centre otherwise.

For those who fancy themselves as vocalists, the Brooklin Community Centre is staging the Whitby Seniors Jubilee Choir fall workshop at the Whitby Courthouse Theatre on Oct. 1, 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Sign up before Sept. 20 for $20, after that, it’s $25. Coffee, muffins and lunch included.   

For further information on all of the fall and continuing programs in the three communities, check out the websites or telephone. Oshawa -- i nfo@oscc.ca or 905-576-6712: Whitby -- Whitby.ca or 905-668-1414; Clarington -- ocaa@bellnet.ca or claringtonolderadults.ca or 905-697-2856.













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