Dates for your diary. Classes begin again mid-September and the face-to-face registration days are the 4th and 5th of September from 11am to 14.00 in one of the studios in DPCC. Remember to bring along your membership card if you have already joined last term. We look forward to seeing you there.
Below is a report on one of the trips undertaken with the support of Fingal County Council’s grant for Educational and Social outings.

The Active Age for All members enjoyed a great trip to the National Stud and Japenese Gardens on Tuesday 25th June. Although the day was overcast it was warm, and mainly dry, allowing us to wander around the Japanese and St Fiacra’s gardens comfortably. They were both a feast for the senses, full of water features and ornamental statuary as well as a plethora of trees and flowers.

Then we had a guided tour for about an hour around the National Stud where our guide told us the history and explained the workings of the stud. We also had a chance to meet a few of our National Hunt hero’s enjoying a well-earned retirement. We met Beef or Salmon, Faugheen and Hurricane Fly who all looked very happy and contented there.

After all this we were ready for refreshment in the large, airy cafe where we indulged in some delicious pastries and savouries. Some of us made a few purchases in the lovely gift shop as well. This is a fantastic place to visit for all age groups, it certainly comes highly recommended by Active Age.

Meanwhile, the weather forecast was not very encouraging for Wednesday 3 rd July but we placed our faith in the weather gods and went ahead with our annual Croquet Fun Day in Newbridge Park and were rewarded with a lovely fine day.

The fun day is to encourage all Active Age croquet players and those from Mens Shed to get out and play croquet together. We select teams with a mix from all groups, then they play for 20 minutes trying to score as many hoops as they can in that time. Teams are redrawn and play a total of three times with individual scores being cumulative. There’s always a great deal of laughter and some slight bending of the rules as the competition for a fun prize builds up. Refreshments are provided by members to help keep spirits up and the eyes on the prizes which this year were ‘bags of gold’ (chocolate money!)
for the 6 best scores. Peolple are very generous with spot prizes and in fact nobody ever goes home empty handed.

Many thanks to Newbridge House Croquet Club for allowing us to use their lawn time on Wednesday afternoon so that we could hold the Fun Day.