If you want to keep yourself active in your free time or want to learn something unique, why not try a new hobby? There are a few activities that make your life free and fun. Instead of staying idle at home, try one or more of the amazing hobbies on this list – like horse riding – that will keep you active. Don’t forget to have a look at a trusted equine shop to search for and buy your riding gear if you plan to take up riding as a hobby.

1. Horse riding

Riding can quickly go from a hobby to a lifestyle. It’s a sport that engages your core, improves your balance, and helps you connect with wildlife. Find a local riding school that offers beginner lessons – and be sure to visit an equine outfitters store like Equijump to get a helmet, riding boots – and other safety gear. The connection you’ll develop with your horse will make the treasure of a hobby even more enjoyable.

2. Rock climbing

Rock climbing is a constant mental and physical challenge. Start with an indoor climbing gym or make your way to the outdoors to take in the world’s natural beauty. This hobby allows you to work your muscles, strategize your next move, and feel a rush of achievement all as one. You will find climbing isn’t as boring as you used to think.

Read more: Practical tips for staying fit and healthy over 50

3. Archery

Only a few activities offer the mental and physical satisfaction of archery. In a single action – the nocking of an arrow, the drawing of a bowstring, and the hitting of a target – archery unites precision, concentration, and power. Modern archery is popular among people of all ages. You don’t need to have Robin Hood-level skills to get started. Archery clubs are open to everyone and often include beginners’ sessions.

4. Paddleboarding

For an aquatic hobby idea, paddleboarding promises relaxation and fitness in equal measure. Float on water to tone your body, like the rest of you entering a hard-earned meditative state. You can try it out on lakes and rivers before you brave open waters. Paddleboarding suits soloists and groups, so it’s a versatile and immensely enjoyable way to spend your time.

5. Dance classes

Dance is such a fun way to keep fit and relieve stress. We all want to live like nobody’s watching; it’s the ultimate self-care escape. Classes of all kinds are everywhere, from traditional to modern. Dance improves heart and muscle strength and is a fantastic social hobby. You’ll also never have to worry about what you do at a gathering because you’ll be the one everyone admires for your dance moves.

Equijump: Your Partner in Equestrian Excellence

In terms of equine supplies and equipment, Equijump is one of the best in the business. Whether you’re a beginner looking for basic supplies or an advanced rider needing to replenish and refresh your gear, Equijump aims to be your one-stop online equine shop. Their vast catalogue includes long-lasting saddles, reliable bridles, and attractive riding wear.

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The post Top 5 unique hobbies to keep you active and engaged appeared first on Silver Magazine.

Ever wanted to dress up as Kate Bush and recreate her dance from the 1978 Wuthering Heights video? Sounds oddly specific but if your answer is yes, then you’re in luck.

On 28 July 2024, Folkestone Harbour Arm in Kent will be celebrating Kate Bush Day, as they do every year, in a fabulously unique way. The Kate Bush Day event sees people pay tribute to the English singer by dressing in her iconic red dress from the Wuthering Heights music video. Not only that, but recreating the famous dance.

The event is free to take part in. All the hosts ask is that you show up in a red dress.

Hundreds of Kate Bush fans came together wearing red floaty dresses on Folkestone’s Harbour Arm to dance to her most iconic song, Wuthering Heights, on the 30th of July 2023 in Folkestone, United Kingdom. The event coincided with Kate Bush’s 65th birthday and was watched by hundreds of onlookers.
(photo by Andy Aitchison)

At last year’s event, more than 1,500 participants attended; all dressed as Kate Bush. This year’s anticipated event will have more exciting opportunities.

The event will start at The Goods Yard with a warmup and dance tutorial, starting at 10 am till 11 am. Then from 12 pm, the first performance will commence at The Harbour Arm.

There will be a Kate Bush tribute band, the KT Band, from 12:15 pm to 2:30 pm, where an original member of Kate Bush’s band will perform.

A second performance will take place at 4 pm at the Harbour, where Dolly Doowop will close with a special DJ set inspired by Kate Bush, ending at 6:15 pm.

Short history

The Kate Bush Day trend started in 2013 with Shambush, a Brighton-based group that performed a collaborative performance piece, The Ultimate Kate Bush Experience. This saw over 400 people dressed up as Kate Bush taking part in recreating the dance from Wuthering Heights.

This trend started to stretch worldwide, even including Texas and Sydney. However, the one based in Kent at Folkestone has been the most successful since 2018.

Join the Kate Bush experience

Teach yourself the dance with this YouTube tutorial.

If you would like to go to the event and join the madness, then check out the organiser’s Instagram and Facebook page for the latest updates.

Elena Harris

Elena is one of Silver’s interns. She has a love for illustrating, reading, and all things media-related. She is a self-proclaimed coffee connoisseur who spends her free time in coffee shops sketching and journalling.

The post Celebrate Kate Bush Day 2024 in Folkestone appeared first on Silver Magazine.

Last weekend I was out clubbing, in my 50s, for the first time. I say clubbing, that’s probably pushing it a bit. An old mate was running a night at a club in Brighton and needed someone to work the door with him. I was interested. Could I do that? What would it be like clubbing in your 50s?!

I stepped up, feeling a bit wild about the whole thing. I mean, it’s years since I STARTED my night out at 11pm, look at me! Being all crazy and spontaneous. I had a long nap before I went out, obviously. I might be spontaneous but I’m not completely insane.

Really I pretty much stopped going to clubs in my early- to mid-forties

Largely because I couldn’t deal with the recovery time. When you’re young, you bounce back more easily, but it wasn’t just about that. When you’re older, you’ve got stuff to do. Kids to manage. Important jobs to worry about. I used to love being able to spend entire weekends getting smashed, dancing til dawn and beyond, and then the fun that followed over the course of the next day, or days. Just a wild ride, as a squad, until we stopped, ran out of money, or passed out cold.

I also stopped because I felt like the oldest swinger in town

You don’t do that when you’re older, and I miss that freedom, the camaraderie. The seemingly endless party. But it’s not just about this. I also stopped because I felt like the oldest swinger in town. Clubs are generally filled with people in their twenties and thirties and – despite my very public stance against ageism – I just felt older, and out of place.

Added to that, I’ve got tinnitus and knee problems, I don’t like bright lights, big crowds, queuing, or dirty toilets. Nor do I like having to drink out of a plastic glass. It’s too loud to have a conversation, I’m fussier about my music these days, the drugs these days are shit, and ugh people. I realise I now sound like the youngest boomer in town. But hey.

So colour me properly pleasantly surprised, when I had an absolute ball at the club last week.

Let me set the scene

This was a night organised by friends. So I knew I would see other friends there, and I knew I was going to love the music (Colin Dale, Terry Francis, Simon Atkinson, for those of you interested). I also knew that the club was held in a really cool little Brighton venue, WaterBear, which is a great spot, not a big overwhelming place. And because of who the DJs were, and the promoters, I knew a large proportion of the punters were going to be my age.

It wasn’t like I was running into the night with no clue what madness lay ahead, like I used to. But I also don’t have a lot of mates who want to go out to clubs these days. And as a single person, it’s still weird going to stuff like this on my own. I’m shyer than you’d think. So when I knew they needed someone to do the door, it felt like a perfect opportunity.

Read more: The Summer of Love, how it all began

More newsreader than edgy door bitch, to be fair

I liked having a job to do

I think this might be top of the list for me in terms of Why I Had Fun. There is HUGE joy to be had doing the door. You get to say hello to people as they arrive, and actually hear them, have some really funny banter. Everyone is arriving, excited and ready to have fun, so the atmosphere as they come in is buzzy.

Later when the door was still open, but it had slowed down, mates came up to chew the fat with me, and I actually got to spend a bit of time catching up with them. And hear them! Brilliant! The music off the dancefloor isn’t so loud the bass threatens you with cardiac arrest, but I still got to bust some mum-dancing moves in a 50-something-year-old fashion. And I loved having something to do other than blunder around in the midnight belly of the beast.

Older people club differently

Don’t get me wrong. There’s still plenty of dancing and getting mangled, but the pace is different. The dancing a bit more sedate – gotta be mindful of the old knees. The use of mobile phones on the dancefloor is almost nil, everyone is just enjoying the moment, loving the music, and communicating with each other.

And people really dance with each other, connecting with more than just a sexy grind. Ironically, before there were enough people on the dancefloor to soak up the quite epically loud sound, several people asked me for earplugs, which they had at the bar. I wish I’d had the foresight to do that when I was 25. My hearing is terrible these days.

The security guys treat you differently

The security team at WaterBear are chilled, but there’s a big difference in how they approach an older crowd, I suspect. There were still searches at the door, and pat-downs. It’s still a seafront nightclub, after all. But it was all done with real politeness, and dare I say it, respect.

Hilariously though, it seems like us oldies are still capable of behaving like idiots. One particular chap thought he’d found a quiet corner to have himself a little bump of coke, and was asked to leave. I know him, and couldn’t help laughing. I pointed to the bank of CCTV screens as he made his way out, shaking my head. He knew it was a fair cop. Apparently he looked up to find a huge bouncer looming over him, also shaking his head. The bouncer literally just raised his eyebrows and said, “Really?” They both knew the game was up, and my friend left sheepishly. But there was no kicking and screaming, and no drama.

I still got a chance to ‘have it’

Once the doors were closed and I was released, I had around an hour before the club shut, and that was ace. Buoyed up by some very stiff Jack Daniels’ that the promoters had been feeding me, I hit the dancefloor. And for about 35 minutes, just lost myself in the music. I can’t remember the last time that happened, and it was wonderful.

There were moments when I looked up and around me, and all I could see were smiling faces, and happy dancing. And it felt like being back there again, back in the early, more innocent days of clubbing when it really was all about peace, love, and sweet harmony. I’m aware that a significant number of the people in that room had been doing this for decades, and would also remember those days. I’m aware of sounding mawkishly nostalgic here, but it made this old bird very happy anyway.

After the club was finished, there was the inevitable after-party plans. And in the old days I’d have skipped off to join the merry band of travellers, to see where the dawn took us, for tomorrow we may die.

But instead, I jumped in an Uber, and was home before 6am. I woke up later, pretty much hangover-free but eyeing my knees with some concern. Overall though, I felt through the roof with happiness, a massive boost from socialising and dancing, and feeling kind of free again. It’s clearly not quite time to hang up my dancing shoes. I’ll be going back for more.

The next System is on 20 July 2024, and you can see the listing HERE. Keep your eyes peeled, the next guest joining Simon and Terry is A Guy Called Gerald.

Sam Harrington-Lowe

Sam is Silver’s founder and editor-in-chief. She’s largely responsible for organising all the things, but still finds time to do the odd bit of writing. Not enough though. Send help.

The post Sunday Girl. Clubbing in your 50s appeared first on Silver Magazine.

Crystal Palace Park is probably best-known for its dinosaur sculptures, but over the weekend, it came alive with the music of such legends as Blondie, Iggy Pop, and Billy Idol. It would be unkind to say these ageing rockers were the real dinosaurs. Instead, they all demonstrated, along with the Buzzcocks and Stiff Little Fingers, that sexagenarians and septuagenarians have plenty of business headlining festivals.

My husband and I impulse-bought tickets to Dog Day Afternoon, reasoning that we’d never forgive ourselves for missing this line-up when they were playing nine miles from our house. Iggy Pop was the main drawcard for my husband, while I have wanted to see Blondie since I first heard The Tide Is High on Countdown – the Australian equivalent of Top of the Pops – as a kid.

Kickstarting the day

We arrived in time for the opening act, Lambrini Girls, to mostly scream at us about trans rights and police brutality. I’m not sure anyone’s views on these contentious issues were swayed in either direction by the energetic performance of TERF Wars, and their set ended abruptly when the mics were cut.

That was a convenient time for the first loo break of the day. As per the lyrics of TERF Wars, gender neutral toilets were not the problem. Having all the bogs at one end of a rather large area, however, was not the greatest idea for an assembly of thousands of ageing bladders. It was probably just as well for all concerned that it was a long wait for a £6 can of Carlsberg at the bar. It was ice cream for dinner for us, washed down with an alarming brand of canned water called Liquid Death.

Buzzcocks and Stiff Little Fingers

Buzzcocks – Photo: Victor Frankowski

We settled down on a patch of grass for the Buzzcocks, with a 12-song set belted out amiably by frontman Steve Diggle, resplendent in a very M&S Blue Harbour-looking jumper. His attire was an intriguing juxtaposition against such tracks as Orgasm Addict and Why Can’t I Touch It?.

Ever Fallen In Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t’ve) was the one everyone was waiting for and it didn’t disappoint. Next up, Stiff Little Fingers were cheerful and melodic, with a detour into melancholic nostalgia with Doesn’t Make It Alright, a cover of The Specials’ song as an emotional tribute to Terry Hall.

My husband noted that the Buzzcocks and Stiff Little Fingers do a roaring trade as support acts, so it’s inevitable that we’ll all end up seeing them at some point in our lives. We ticked them both off our list within about two hours.

Generation Sex

Billy Idol – Photo: Victor Frankowski

And speaking of lists, when Generation Sex came onstage, the bucket list came out earlier than expected. Comprising Billy Idol, his long-serving bassist, Tony James, and Steve Jones and Paul Cook of Sex Pistols fame, their renditions of God Save The Queen and I Did It My Way were almost worth the admission price alone.

Billy Idol was clearly having a great time up there. Although I felt more comfortable on his behalf when he ditched the leather jacket in the heat. Hell, I was starting to regret my sparkly synthetic leggings for hot flush-related reasons, rather than mutton-dressed-as-lamb fears.

Blondie

Blondie – Photo: Victor Frankowski

For me, the absolute highlight was Blondie. There were plenty of predictably terrible comments on Twitter about how Debbie Harry’s voice had gone at Glastonbury, along with the usual ageist bollocks about women of a certain age having the temerity to exist.

But Debbie celebrated her 78th birthday in fine style in Crystal Palace. Obviously, the upper register that could bring out all the dogs in a 10-mile radius wasn’t quite what it used to be, but nobody cared. One of the communal highlights of the set was the whole crowd joining in with the piercing “Ooh-oh-ooh-ah-oohs” of Heart of Glass.

My only disappointment was the absence of Denis, Denis from the set list – a gorgeous track that my husband and Alexa insist on calling “Dennis, Dennis”. But this was more than made up for by being in the live presence of The Tide Is High, One Way Or Another, Hanging On The Telephone, Call Me, Sunday Girl, Atomic, Rapture, Maria, Dreaming…

It really was banger after banger. Singing along at the top of my lungs, along with passively smoking more weed in an afternoon than I did in my entire misspent 20s, contributed to this Sunday Girl waking up with a sore throat and a drag queen voice.

Read more: You don’t have to be over 50 to enjoy festivals but it helps

Iggy Pop

Iggy Pop – Photo: Victor Frankowski

The finale was Iggy Pop. By this point, my arthritic knees, ankles, two club feet and knackered lower back were starting to bite me. We found a spot on a little hill overlooking the whole spectacle that gave me plenty of room to sit down, as well as a good vantage point for my husband to enjoy the show without it being too peopley. The only problem was that I sat in front of a wall that doubled as a men’s toilet. I avoided looking behind myself to prevent seeing actual wee that could not be held in for the long walk to the portaloos.

When I worked on the Australian edition of FHM, I saw pictures of Iggy Pop’s penis frequently. On this occasion, he did not rock out with his cock out. But it would have been disappointing if he didn’t stride on stage and divest himself of his waistcoat in mere moments.

He was a shirtless spectacle, remnants of his muscular days lurking under scars, creases and sagging skin. He didn’t care and why should he? At 76, if he can bend and contort around the stage without missing a beat, he can wear as much or as little as he likes. Damn, if I can still get upstairs unaided at 76, I’ll be joyous.

Iggy Pop – Photo: Victor Frankowski

And as for me…

As my beleaguered feet swelled up in my shoes in time to the music, I started to wonder if I should follow my own advice and start carrying a fold-up walking stick to such occasions. I’m Blue Badge-eligible. Maybe the time has come to avail myself of the disabled access areas.

No matter where you sat, Iggy Pop offered brilliant value for money with an 18-song set that featured five tracks in the encore alone. The more mobile members of the crowd bounced as the likes of Five Foot One, Raw Power, I Wanna Be Your Dog and Search and Destroy eloquently roared out.

Everyone sang along with gusto to Lust For Life – a song that must keep Iggy Pop in the best tight jeans on royalties alone – proving that while a large proportion of the audience, myself included, must have been in a world of joint pain on Sunday morning, we’re not dead yet. I just hope everyone was able to have a nice sit-down on the train ride home.

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Georgia Lewis

In a career that has spanned Australia, the Middle East and the UK, Georgia has written about all sorts of things, including sex, cars, food, oil and gas, insurance, fashion, travel, workplace safety, health, religious affairs, glass and glazing… When she’s not writing words for fun and profit, she can usually be found with a glass of something French and red in her hand.

The post The joys of ageing rockers for an ageing crowd appeared first on Silver Magazine.