Aging well and staying engaged in sport were two issues close to the heart of 74-year-old Kenneth Thorpe as the residents of Mercy Place Edgewater came together this week to celebrate the International Day of Older Persons on Tuesday 1 October.
The United Nations’ (UN) International Day of Older Persons is celebrated annually to recognise the contributions of older persons and to examine issues that affect their lives – for Mr Thorpe, it was an opportunity to relive the glory days of a heartfelt passion for cricket.
“Cricket has been a great love of mine, and I’ve had a much fulfilled life,” Mr Thorpe shared. “My motto has always been that ‘you can’t say can’t, after all the first three letters are c-a-n’, and certainly helping out, helping others and volunteering in the community have always been great passions of mine.”
Born on the other side of the country, in Moss Vale, a town in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales into a family of 13 children, Kenneth and his siblings always joked that they had more than enough players for a cricket team, and the active family grew up involved in the whole gamut of sport, including tennis, hockey and rugby league.
But it was cricket that was Ken’s first love and he went on to pass his umpiring exams in New South Wales, followed by his state cricket umpiring examination, which needed a pass mark of 83 per cent.
“There are many standout games I recall umpiring vividly, including a game involving Sir Richard Hadlee from New Zealand, one of the greatest fast bowlers and all-rounders in cricketing history,” says Mr Thorpe, who during his busy life was a volunteer at the Sydney Olympics in 2000, a Justice of the Peace and also Scoutmaster for many years.
Mercy Place Edgewater Service Manager, Alison Devonport, said International Day of Older Persons was an opportunity to highlight the important contributions that older people make to society.
“There are many amazing residents like Ken at Mercy Place Edgewater, all of whom have had incredibly interesting lives, and the International Day of Older Persons is the perfect opportunity to recognise them and to hear their stories.”
Her words echo those of Pope Francis during his address to the elderly in April 2019, where the Pontiff reminded the faithful that the wealth of experience garnered by grandparents gives them the gift of greater understanding and insight into the heartfelt issues of today.
“The elderly – grandparents [especially] – have a capacity to understand the most difficult situations: a great ability – and when they pray for these situations, their prayer is strong. It is powerful,” Pope Francis said.
“Old age, in particular, is a time of grace, in which the Lord will renew his call: calls us to preserve and transmit the faith, calls us to pray, especially to intercede; calls us to be close to those who maybe in need.”
“A people that does not have care for [the elderly], that does not treat them well, has no future: such a people loses its memory and its roots.”
As such, Mercy Health, in celebration of the International Day of Older Persons, is asking many of its residents, like Kenneth Thorpe, to look back on their lives reflectively and share a little bit of that garnered wisdom with the wider community.
Mercy Health is a Catholic not-for-profit provider of care, founded by the Sisters of Mercy and grounded in a 2000-year tradition of caring for those in need.
The organisation provides health and aged care services throughout Victoria, southern New South Wales, Western Australia, Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory