As the children return to school for their regularly scheduled learning, so do seniors return to their centres for their regularly scheduled fun.
At the Prince George Council of Seniors Resource and Referral Centre, 721 Victoria St., it's all the old hits that are a favourite with the in crowd.
Visit the centre for information about where the next foot clinic will be held, where to go for a flu shot but also ask them the tough questions like who to call with pension questions or how to find out about provincial residents subsidies and staff at the resource centre are all ready with answers.
Services provided by the PGCOS include Friendly Phone Calls, Meals on Wheels, Outreach Programs, Seniors Peer Support, just to name a few. The centre is always looking for volunteers for their front desk, to assemble the Blue Bottle Kits, and even need someone to climb into the mascot costume, Elderbeary, every once in a while.
A brand new fundraising event has recently been announced called the Dinner and Trivia Competition.
"We're trying to put the word out like this 'we floss for healthy teeth, right? So flossing our memory should be good for our brains. We challenge you to floss your brain on national seniors' day,'" said Lola Dawn Fennell, general manager at the PGCOS Resource Centre.
To take up the challenge gather a team of six - you and five of your smartest friends - and join in the fun on Saturday, Oct. 1 at the College Heights Baptist Church basement. Attendees who don't want to compete can watch all the fun and cheer on their favourite team. Tickets are $25 each including dinner. The winning team gets reimbursed their ticket price.
The Hart Pioneer Centre, 6986 Hart Highway, is gearing up for a new season of activities.
"Everything is back up and running in September," said Diane MacLean, office manager at the centre. "In September we have a pancake breakfast, a foot clinic, the monthly potluck on September 8, and on the 10th we have a dance. There's a crib tournament on the 18th, followed by a roast beef dinner."
Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays there's tai chi, and line dancing follows. Tuesdays there's floor curling and Wednesdays there's crafts like sewing, knitting and crocheting. Thursdays there's carpet bowling and bingo. Mondays and Thursdays there's canasta.
"We're always looking for new members and volunteers," said MacLean.
The annual membership is $20 and if seniors wish to join now it will be prorated to reflect the late start.
The Prince George & District Seniors Activity Centre, 425 Brunswick St., is gearing up for the new season of activities with a bright new addition of a mural facing Victoria Street at the back of their building. The mural was funded through the New Horizons for Seniors program. The mural was created to showcase what goes on inside the walls at the centre.
"In September dances and dinners start up again," said Trianda Cuthbert, administrator at the centre. "There's floor curling and carpet bowling and there's bridge and crib, whist and bingo. The fitness program and line dancing is pretty popular and we have our walking group that goes Tuesdays and Fridays at 1 p.m."
The walking group enjoys getting their exercise together at Masich Place and during the winter months they meet at the Coliseum to walk around the concourse, added Cuthbert. There are foot and blood pressure clinics scheduled regularly as well.
Bingos are regular events, and then open to anyone 19 and over are Saturday bingos that are used for fundraising. Bigger annual events include a bazaar, showcasing members' talents and there is also a garage sale on the schedule for later in the season.
The knitting group gets together every Thursday and they have a display case at the activity centre of a variety of items for sale, with proceeds going to the centre to help with operating costs.
Lunch is offered Monday to Saturday throughout the year.
Membership to the Seniors Activity Centre is $20 for the year.
North Central Seniors, which operates out of College Heights Baptist Church (5401 Moriarty Cres.), is small but mighty.
The excitement starts Sept. 7.
There are some interesting things happening during the monthly Cooks' Corner, the Blue Bling Belles will be back in all their sparkly glory along with all the other favourite weekly activities like cards and photo club, rousing games of pool followed by lunch, and there's even a meeting geared toward geneology about every six weeks and the volunteer who runs the meeting helps those interested in tracing their family history.
"We're even going to have a rip-roaring crib tournament," said longtime North Central Seniors member, Lou Ellerton. The date needs to be pinned down for that.
There are monthly meals and birthday teas with the UpBeats that always turns into a sing along, which is great fun, added Ellerton.
"The UpBeats have been gaining popularity and have been invited all over the place," said Ellerton. "We boast a light, young group but we're not really. We are older and always looking for members and it's only $15 to join. We have many activities throughout the year like the Senior Follies and Christmas dinner with entertainment. So we celebrate almost everything we can."
The Elder Citizen Recreation Association (ECRA) has reached its record number of members, tipping the scales at 821. With that strong membership number comes a new centre manager, Lisa McGhee, who just started the job a couple months ago.
The centre always has some sort of activity on the go and along with the regular yoga class, there is now an introductory class added to the schedule.
"The original class has expanded and improved to the point where they had moved up a little bit so we needed to bring in a beginner easy chair yoga class," said McGhee. "People who have mobility issues benefit from that class. So that's a good thing that's happening."
All the programming that has taken a summer hiatus will be starting up again in September. People can look forward to tai chi, line dancing, carpet bowling, floor curling, and games like bridge, cribbage, canasta, and whist, as well as the ukelele group. There's mini bingo, a drama club, two choirs to join, a crafts group as well as blood pressure and foot clinics. The centre has a lunch program offering a healthy main meal of the day from Monday to Friday. ECRA also has a catering service that offers to serve up to 180 people for any type of celebration.
Membership is $25 a year and it's half price right now to prorate the fee for the back half of the year.
Spruce Capital Seniors, 3701 Rainbow Drive, is wheelchair accessible, and offers breakfast and lunch from Monday to Thursday.
The centre has about 85 members and is warm and welcoming.
"The people here are so friendly," said Sue Collison, treasurer for the group. "When you walk into the centre everyone says hello and that's really nice."
Spruce Capital offers a variety of activities including tai chi and carpet bowling, crib, canasta, bingo and bridge.
"We've got a great cook and Cinnamon Bun Wednesday is a real highlight of our week," said Collison. "Everyone looks forward to that."
Membership is $20 a year per person, $30 per couple and if you're 80 years or older it's only $5 per year.
