Celebrating our older community

This year, the City of Ballarat is partnering with local community groups to deliver a jam-packed calendar of free and low-cost events and activities for Ballarat’s older residents.

For popular Tai Chi instructor Jijun ‘Jack’ Yang, the practice of Tai Chi is “like a superpower”.

Aside from the “miracle” physical and mental health benefits, Jack’s Tai Chi classes for Ballarat’s older community have powers of bringing people together and demonstrating what older residents can do.

“People often think that older people aren’t capable, or they’re not physically fit, or they don’t have much to offer,” he says.

“But (at my Tai Chi classes) we gather together, we have a positive impact on each other, and we are willing to go out and help others.”

Jack and his students regularly visit different restaurants around town together and volunteer by doing Tai Chi demonstrations at schools and aged care facilities.

“It’s a small, very friendly, community,” he says.

“They are willing to go out and help others and each other, and they are really engaged in their community,” he says.

This sentiment — that older residents can try new things and are capable of positively impacting the broader community — is in line with the theme of the Victorian Seniors Festival this year, which is ‘Explore. Engage. Evolve.’

Jack’s Tai Chi classes will be one of many free or low-cost activities and events on offer for Ballarat’s older residents throughout the month of October as part of the Ballarat Seniors Festival, which forms part of the state-wide Victorian Seniors Festival. 

The centrepiece of the Ballarat Seniors Festival is the Get Connected! Seniors Festival Expo, which is designed to help people discover what's on offer in and around Ballarat and establish connections that will last long beyond the Seniors Festival.

Delivered by the City of Ballarat’s Ageing Well Services team, there will be more than 30 community groups represented at the expo, including social, art, sport, and special interest clubs, with live entertainment  and refreshments.

Among these community groups will be the Ballarat branch of the University of the Third Age (U3A), which helps seniors learn new skills and build friendships through affordable course offerings.

U3A was involved in the expo last year, which incoming President, Don Collins says was a fantastic way for older residents to build connections to other groups and other people.

“Promoting social connection underpins everything we do at U3A,” he says.

“As you age, you need to maintain connections and friendship groups.

“I think people left the expo feeling like they had a better sense of how much is going on in Ballarat.”

U3A volunteer Blake Gordon, who has held just about every title there is at U3A over the years, says events like the Seniors Festival also help build connections between groups.

“It celebrates the cohesiveness of this community, and makes other groups that also contribute to the festival aware that there are other groups that might just work together on a project,” he says.

Working together and contributing to the community, Blake says, is key to healthy ageing.

"Older people have a lot to say and they want to be heard - they like to come up with solutions to problems," he says.

“Those informal conversations when you’re working together on a project, you’re able to share your problems with someone and see solutions,” he says.

Ballarat Seniors Festival is an annual event held over the month of October and part of the Victorian Seniors Festival running at the same time. Seniors Festival is a month-long series of events for and about seniors, celebrating the contribution of older people and providing opportunities for older people to be active and connected.

The annual Ballarat Seniors Awards acknowledge and celebrate inspirational people aged 60 years and over (and First Nations people 50 years and over), who are making a significant contribution to the Ballarat community.

We have a number of programs, services and activities to meet the needs of our residents aged 55 years and over.

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3. Call the Community Connections Team on 03 5320 5719