Your 50+ Board of Directors

President: Carmen Grosse

Treasurer: John Pyl

Secretary: Lorraine Buck

Covid-19 Response: Anne Lusby

Activities Director:  Tom Beach

Newsletter: Rosalie Morris-Spencer

Office Manager: Julie Daxon

Member-at-Large #1:  John Dickie

Member-at-Large #2: (vacant)

We wish you a happy and safe, 

very active 2022

filled with fun times!

Website: http://fiftyplusbrockville.ca  Email: fiftyplus@myhighspeed.ca

Office Address: 5 Wall St, Brockville                          Phone: 613-345-2412

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Message from our President

Carmen Grosse

Let me start with the good news. Julie Daxon has agreed to be the office manager and Tom Beach has joined the Board as Activities Director.

Julie has extensive experience in office management and is getting familiar with our programs, operations, and procedures. She is also helping with the database as we prepare for the opening of the winter semester. I look forward to working with her and maybe someday we will even be able to get back to having regular office hours.

Tom will shadow me as he becomes familiar with the position, leaders, and venues. He has some great ideas and looks forward to digging in. So much so that he has already organized the Activity Supply Cabinet outside our office on the 3^rd floor. (I’m tempted to ask him to come over to my place and help me organize!). I look forward to working with him.

The not so good news is that the start date for our winter semester remains on hold.  We are awaiting confirmation from our Venues as to when we can start back to classes.  We believe we'll be able to announce a start date for activities very soon! 

While all this is going on we are still excited to offer new classes. Harmonica, Sign Language and the return of Elske Harris with a Beginner Mosaics class will get started this semester.

At this time, we are encouraging everyone to get their booster shot of the vaccination. We want to keep everyone as safe as possible and so we ask you to go out and do your part. 

The team is coming together in many areas. This newsletter is better than ever thanks to Rosalie. All the functional roles are being filled, although we still need a vice-president. With Julie and Tom taking on key roles, I feel like the whole picture is coming together. I am excited about our potential moving forward.

Let’s keep our fingers crossed for good news of a confirmed start date very soon, so we can get back to 50+ activities and our friends. 

I am missing you all.

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Treasurer's Report

John Pyl

Thanks to all who donated to Brockville 50+ during 2021. Tax receipts have been mailed. If you made a donation and did not receive a receipt, please contact John Pyl, treasurer at jpyl@ncf.ca.

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Covid 19 Report

Anne Lusby

The COVID Response Team recommends that when the winter semester begins, every participant will provide proof that they have received a booster shot of the vaccine. This will help keep everyone safer.

If you think things are bad now, rumour has it that the next variant plays the accordion.

Be patient, be kind and carry on!

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Activities Report

Thank you to the 50+ Board for appointing me as Activity Director!  

Being relatively new to 50+, my plan is to learn from those who have been involved longer. I will be talking to Activity Leaders and members a lot.  I want to know more about each activity, what works and what doesn’t, to understand how best to support each group.

My top priority is to get activities started as soon as possible. Some activities are more conducive to meeting by Zoom or other on line options. Harmonica, Intermediate Spanish Conversation and Line Dancing have met by zoom and if restrictions return other programs may look at similar options.

Provincial guidelines and the requirements for renting our venues limit capacity to ensure distancing, which means we have limitations on the number of participants we can have in each session.

Your patience and understanding is truly appreciated in these confusing and frustrating times. With fewer options for travelling, we know that 50plus activities will be very welcome this winter.

Tom Beach,

Activities Director

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Our group learns from each other, as there are many artists experienced in all mediums . Members are always willing to share their knowledge with beginners. A typical day for us is getting all tables set up and getting our supplies out and ready to paint . We then socialize and see the progress from the previous week or check out the new projects people are about to attempt. There are no formal lessons; we work on our own.  However, for beginners, Karen gives extra help, and provides online resources.  We have over 16 very committed and enthusiastic artists who are pre-registered so far.   I hope for 2022 that we can soon safely get back together and enjoy each other’s company and create fun art !

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Line Dancing - Beginners 

Line Dancing - Intermediate

Leaders:  Janet Rose and Holly Welch

The Line Dancers have moved online while we patiently wait to resume in-person classes. Online comes with its challenges, but it gets us together, keeps us moving, and practicing the dances we worked so hard on throughout the fall session. Perhaps we are a little obsessed with this activity that brings us so much joy - LOL!

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Mosaics is the decorative art of creating pictures and designs on a surface, by setting small pieces of china, coloured/stained glass, ceramic or other materials (ex. metals, jewelry, etc) in a bed of adhesive and then grouting and finishing the piece. Participants learn how to create mosaic art projects of their choice. Whether you are new to this art form or a seasoned mosaic artist, we welcome you!  Your project could be a simple trivet, a tabletop or wall hanging, garden art, glass on glass mosaic, etc!  Interior or exterior projects, the choices are endless.  Lots of instruction is provided weekly to those new to this art form, on everything from design to material and colour choices, cutting skills and techniques. This fun and supportive group help each other to create great mosaic projects.  Mondays 2-5pm at Salvation Army.

Bird Mosaic created by Betty Prideaux, Jan 2022

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Beginners Mosaic Art  - Monday

Leader:  Elske Harris

Participants will learn how to create a mosaic project by breaking china into small pieces with a hammer, gluing and arranging the pieces in a creative and artful way.  Other materials such as pebbles, glass, etc. can be used also. The pieces are glued to the backing (wall hanging, piece of furniture, vase, etc), and then grouted. Also covered will be discussion of art history, influence of different artistic styles, and different mosaic techniques.

This introductory class will be a small group of 5-7, lead by mosaic artist Elske Harris in her home.  Mondays 10:00-11:30.

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Well, we’ve been shut down for a few months, and we look forward to a date for restarting. We would all like Covid to be over after such a long time, but I can't help thinking how much worse it would be if it wasn't for the vaccine.

I do think our hobbies help us to deal with Covid restrictions. The quilting group learned a new block the end of the last session, and I discovered another block of similar construction that I sent to the group as another option. We can each continue with quilting on our own, but we sure miss the sharing of ideas that comes while sitting together enjoying our hobby.

We are all looking forward to resuming our activities when it is safe. I think we have done a great job with the restrictions to keep people safe and enjoy our activities.

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Beginners Spanish, Part 2

Leader:  Elizabeth Stratton

¡Hola amigos! I'm so looking forward to getting started on Beginners' Spanish, Part 2. This offers an opportunity to develop the conversational skills acquired during the Fall semester. If you have picked up some basic Spanish during your travels or in a previous course, we’d be pleased to have you join us for building practical, everyday vocabulary, exploring some useful verbs, forming simple sentences and practising conversation. Smiles, giggles and a supportive learning environment await you!

Not sure whether this is the right level for you? Please feel free to email me at profestratton@gmail.com and I'll be happy to help guide you.

¡Hasta luego!

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Spanish Conversation - Intermediate

Leader:  Tom Beach

Members of the Intermediate Spanish Conversation group are keen to keep talking in Spanish. A few of them met, safely distanced, a couple times over the Christmas break and then the group shifted to zoom meetings. We get rusty if we don’t hablamos en Español for a while.

We meet via zoom Tuesday at 7pm and our usual time at 2pm on Thursdays. We are quickly running through topics and learning words, conjugations and tips from each other.
We are very pleased that Elizabeth Stratton has agreed to join us on Zoom to lead us through a lesson on object pronouns later this month.
We are fortunate that our activity is conducive to meeting by Zoom. There is even a plus to it - we can see each others faces! Actually, we find that very helpful when learning a language.
The class is up to 11 members with one new addition this month. If anyone else is interested in the Intermediate level, you are welcome to join us on a regular basis or to join a session to see if you are interested and how your level of Spanish fits with the group.

Hasta luego!

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Tole Painting 

Leader: Marilyn Wallace

Marilyn is happy to report that all participants from last year plan on returning to the Tole Painting group, to be held at the Salvation Army on Wednesday mornings. Whether new members will be allowed to join the next session is uncertain just yet, i.e. will depend on Covid rules when we start up again. Members agree as a group what projects they will each work on, allowing still for each member's piece to be slightly different. Last year they completed a picture of an old rusted pail with several apples tumbling out of it, and a tole style piece with a Christmas theme. Choice of projects for the upcoming session are now in the midst of being decided.

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Tom Beach

Activity Director

and  Leader of Spanish Conversation - Intermediate

Quite a while ago, while living near Merrickville, Tom and his wife Polly were regular visitors to Brockville, attending yoga, aquafit and the YMCA gym. They grew to like the city more each time they were here. So, in 2018 they decided to move here.

After graduating with a degree in agriculture, Tom spent most of the next 40 years supporting agricultural development work in Africa, Asia and Central America. He describes those years as always challenging and often frustrating, but extremely rewarding. In 2016, Tom retired from his last job, managing agricultural research stations for the University of Guelph, in Eastern and Northern Ontario. He went back part time, and retired fully in March 2019. Looking back, Tom wonders how he and Polly managed working and volunteering while raising 4 kids, but they really enjoyed being involved with numerous organizations and activities - school, church, theatre, children’s activities and municipal affairs. Since retirement Tom has enjoyed spending more time with family, including grandkids 5 and 16, outdoor hobbies and travelling when possible.

The Beachs joined 50+ Activity Centre in 2019, both taking French, Polly joining the music jam and Tom joining Euchre, and loved learning more about the city and meeting new people with similar interests. Tom joined the Tai Chi group but found that the Yung style he had previously learned was different from the Tao style that the 50+ group practices. He would still like to find a Yung style Tai Chi group.

In 2020 Tom started a Spanish Conversation group for those who wanted to practice and learn Spanish from each other. 50+ was very helpful in supporting Tom’s interest in getting that group started. Tom finds 50+ to be a great organization in many ways, and especially that supports and encourages group sharing of interests and skills. The Spanish Conversation group has adapted through Covid protocols and are a very vibrant group. Tom reports that since retirement he and his wife have preferred to assist with short term volunteer activities rather than those with long term commitment and more intensive involvement. Well, very recently, Tom joined the Board of 50+, and is now in the midst of taking over the very busy role of Activity Director. He hopes to help the organization expand and broaden its membership and programs, all with the focus of keeping seniors physically and mentally active. Tom’s knowledge of organizational management and governance is valued, and his efforts, especially during these crazy Covid times with so many activity limitations, are greatly appreciated by the organization.

Tom’s leisure activities are mostly outdoors - gardening, paddling, hiking, fishing and camping both trailer and backwoods. He likes to learn and try new things, so in 2019 got his Open Water certification for Scuba Diving and has been enjoying dives along the St Lawrence. Over the winter he likes to refinish and mend things, noting his most rewarding project so far was a cabinet gramophone. 

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Carmen and her husband Ian moved to Brockville in 2010. They were drawn to Brockville because Ian has family here, and they thought it would be a good idea to leave the big city of Montreal and move to God’s country. As Carmen says….”It is beautiful here!”

Retirement came for Carmen in 2014, having worked mostly in sales and purchasing her whole career, in Montreal, Toronto and Winnipeg (where she was born and raised). Her last job was in Brockville, at Donaldson Filters as their Materials Manager.

Shortly after arriving in Brockville, Carmen was asked to join the board for Children’s Mental Health of Leeds and Grenville. She was actively involved with that important organization for 9 years, before joining the board of 50+. Prior to Covid she also volunteered when needed with United Way, such as assisting with setup for special United Way sales campaigns.

In 2015 Carmen decided to join 50+, prompted by someone suggesting that the Tai Chi group was great. Curious to learn more, Carmen signed up for Tai Chi! As she says, “I haven’t looked back since”. She joined the Board in 2019, was promptly assigned the role of Newsletter Editor, and in 2020 was elected as President. Last semester Carmen passed the Newsletter Editor’s role to Rosalie, so that she could take on the duties of Activity Director. Whew!!! Carmen has contributed greatly to the organization. Her strong leadership skills, positive outlook and belief that one has to just do what needs to get done, has very much been to the members’ advantage. With new members joining the board and taking on key positions Carmen is now able to concentrate on the President position, and in this role she would like to focus on adding new courses to expand the range of courses being offered. So far this session, we have added Karaoke, Harmonica and Sign Language. Hopefully leaders with ideas will come forward and offer their expertise to the rest of the members. Co-ordinating with other senior organizations is also front of mind. Perhaps with Club 85 we will be able to expand our card game offering. This is a starting point, and once Covid has settled down, she can concentrate on other ideas for 50+ Activities.

Currently Carmen is a participant in Tai Chi classes and also leads the Tai Chi Boost Class. She has also participated in Beryl Woods’ meditation classes as well as Sonja Haynes class before that. Carmen’s role as President still pretty well monopolizes her time, but she definitely looks forward to signing up for other 50+ classes in future. Carmen stresses that participating in classes and being on the 50+ Board has been a great way to get involved in and with the community. She notes that through 50+, she has made some great friends and learned valuable skills. During her down time, Carmen likes to do puzzles to keep her mind active. She does the New York Times crossword puzzle daily to start her day. Usually her and Ian play Scrabble a couple of times per week as well as Cribbage. In the winter months nothing thrills her more than to conquer a jigsaw puzzle. She has also found other mind games and puzzles to play on-line. Last summer Carmen re-defined her back yard into a place of Zen. Her hope is to continue working in this space to attract birds and bees and enjoy the outdoors in a new light.

Carmen loves socializing with folks in the 50+ age group, and meeting people through 50+ with similar interests has led to several new friendships. Carmen is grateful for all that 50+ Activity Centre has offered, and we are certainly grateful to Carmen for all she has given to the 50+ organization.

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Lucie Stein

Lucie Stein is a born and raised Brockville gal. She and her husband Al have been married for 47 years, and they have two children, who also reside in Brockville.

After working for St. Lawrence College for a number of years (as a secretary, then teacher, then Assistant to Director of Finance), opportunity knocked, and Lucie bought an A&W Restaurant franchise. She spent the next 26 years as a business woman, the owner operator of an A&W in Brockville, which included lots of challenges and experiences, including being President of A&W Regional Association and Ontario’s representative on the National Advertising Council for A&W. She speaks most fondly of the pleasures she had in working day to day with a broad range of people, from students holding their first job at A&W, to CEO’s of major companies.

Lucie planned and looked forward to retiring in her 50’s. By 2012 she was ready to retire in terms of planning, but the future didn’t feel as hopeful and exciting as she had dreamed it would. She wasn’t in good shape, didn’t feel healthy, and images of her retirement years were a bit bleak. So, Lucie decided to take the bull by the horn, or in this case, the weights in her hands, and turn that story around. She started attending a few courses through the Shepherd Welcome Centre around 2013. One of her favourite classes was with Kay Carlson and her Seniors Aerobics Class. Motivated by Kay’s enthusiasm and energy, Lucie became involved with the CPHC (Community & Primary Health Care) and took the Exercise Instructor course offered through Western University. So began her journey. She soon recognized that exercise, no matter the level, needed to be a regular part of her daily routine. She began assisting as an instructor with the Welcome Centre in 2014, and became a certified exercise instructor in 2015, leading classes in Brockville and Lansdowne. When Kay Carlson decided to take a break from her duties with the Welcome Centre, Lucie took her place.

Lucie stresses how very fortunate we in this community are to have such an active 50+ program with such diverse course offerings. She likes that the program is open to all, but is disappointed we don’t have more instructors for the classes that seem to fill up quickly with returning students. With more volunteers and accessible locations, we could offer many more interesting programs.

In the past 6 years of volunteering as a leader with 50+ AC, Lucie has maintained her keen focus on motivating and inspiring participants. She sets a fast pace, and encourages each participant to find their happy place, follow along, and go at their own pace. In addition to leading the Seniors Low Impact Aerobics class twice weekly, Lucie has trained and mentored other instructors. She also volunteers at her church (Wall St. United), works with the Dying with Dignity Association, and occasionally, on request, does one on one training or small exercise classes. She is an avid golfer and when the season is open, averages about 5 games a week with her husband and friends. In pre-Covid times, she also enjoyed playing in a volleyball league. Lucie enjoys crafts, sewing and crocheting. She loves her pets.

A quick survey of her students shows what a popular class the Seniors Low Impact Aerobics is, and how much Lucie is appreciated: “We like the energy Lucie brings to class”, “the music is amazing”, “the instructor makes it fun”, “I feel stronger and more confident”. She is encouraged by all the positive feedback, and says that contributes to her desire to keep going. Lucie says “In my retirement I have learned to take each day as a gift. I am excited about the many busy moments I experience, and I enjoy the quiet moments when they are presented to me.” She says “I still have the same aches and pains as most of us do as we age, but I find by exercising and being very active, I am better able to cope and more stubborn not to give in.”

This lady really is a believer that “age is just a number!"

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Not just yet!

Let's be super optomistic for announcements of special 50+ events. later in 2022.  Do you have IDEAS for special events?  Please share your suggestions with your Board!  

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The Brockville Museum’s Annual Winter Lecture Series returns for a 19th season this February. Guest speakers from across Ontario will discuss a variety of topics from the influence of Canadian art on international diplomacy to Canada’s complicated history with the automobile and its technological evolution, and from one woman’s experience as a prisoner of war in 1940s Singapore, to the checkered history of museum animals and what that history says about our relationship with animals. 

Due to ongoing public health concerns, this year's lectures will be held virtually.

Lectures take place live online every Tuesday morning at 10am in February. One ticket provides the ticket holder with access to all four lectures (which include a Q&A session), as well as to recordings of each lecture at the close of the series. Tickets are just $20 and are available through the Brockville Arts Centre Box Office (online or by phone). Proceeds from ticket sales support Museum programming and will help ensure the continuation of this popular event in future years.

For more information: www.brockvillemusuem.com/publicprograms or call 613-342-4397 extension 6225. Tickets are on sale now through the Brockville Arts Centre Box Office.

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 Friends of Brockville 50+ Activity Centre

We are very fortunate to have great organizations in our community that focus on caring for community members, and enriching the lives of seniors with activities and opportunities of all sorts.  We are also fortunate to have great leaders for all our 50+ activities. They especially are best Friends of 50+.

In this section, we will share information and what's happening with some of the many Friends of Brockville 50+ Activity Centre. 

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