It’s been a brilliant year and it’s all thanks to you, the Starts at 60 community

As we wind down for Christmas and the end of 2019, I’d like to reflect on the amazing contribution of everyone who makes up the Starts at 60 and Travel at 60 community.

One of our proudest achievements is the continued growth of our monthly meet-ups and the amazing variety of blogs we publish every week and that is all entirely down to you.

I’ll talk about meet-ups first.

It’s been so rewarding to see the development of such close communities at the Starts at 60 Community and Travel Buddies Meet-ups. We held roughly 850 community meet-ups in 2019, all coordinated by our tireless events manager Karen O’Brien-Hall, and everyone at Starts at 60 HQ loves to see the fun photos that result!

I’d like to extend a special thank you to our volunteer hosts from around Australia and New Zealand, who work with Karen to make meet-ups so special and without whom, many community members would miss a valued opportunity to get together with other friendly locals.

It’s a long list of incredible hosts!

Alice Fean, Barbara Allatt, Barbara Guignard-Drieberg, Billy Jo, Carol Reece, Carole Coo, Carole Cooper, Cathy Hardiman, Cathy Wagner, Chrissy Stanzer, Christa Caldecott-Michalak, Eunice Helmore, Fiona Waldon, Gail Guidice, Helen Hay, Helen McMartin, Helena Winter, Irene Connolly, Irmgard Huddy, Janine Arnold, Jenni Brohier, Jenni Thompson, Jennie Law, Jenny Canning, Jenny Ford, Jes Shaw, John Thurston, Joyce Longney, Judith Boyce, Julia Sainsbury, Kate Pye, Kylie Moran, Laura Percario, Leanne Jordan, Leonie White, Linda McCabe, Lorna Eadie, Lyn Angwin, Lyn Fletcher, Lynne Kinnane, Maggie Bourdon, Marion Boucher, Marj Mulholland, Mary Couper, Mary Cox, Maureen Gale, Merilyn Chavera, Mirella Gallagher, Natalie Sutton, Noel Brown, Pam Hall, Pam Padman, Pat Burgess, Patricia Forsyth-Reid, Phyll Chapman, Rachana Evans, Rhonda Milliner, Roberta Iggulden, Rod Hooper, Kay Hayes, Sandra Allan, Sandra Jones, Selwyn Montgomery, Shane Mason, Sharon Orr, Shazza Jackson, Suzanne Chalker, Tracey Andrews, Val Callaghan and Wendy Gordon have all played an important role in providing a sense of community, belonging, friendship and comfort to other over-60s.

And while most meet-ups have finished for the year, I hope you’ll be inspired to look at the events already planned for 2020 to find the meet-up nearest you.

Onto our blogs!

Another unique aspect of what we do at Starts at 60 is to publish your own stories of personal experience and real-life issues and opinions.

Our community editor, Calista Bruschi, welcomed more than 100 new bloggers in 2019 to the group of 400 writers who contribute to Starts at 60, and by the year’s end, more than 830 stories written by over-60s will have been published on our website (and on Facebook and in our daily, health and money newsletters).

Your stories are so great, we wanted to make sure they reached even more people, which is why in 2019 Starts at 60 launched its community newsletter, which highlights our most-read blogs every week. So, thank you to all of our bloggers — your words have been the source of many laughs, some tears and a lot of conversation this year and we value every single one of them.

(Don’t forget, you can visit the Starts at 60 website at any time to update your email preferences so you receive more or fewer of our emails.)

There is one other community aspect of Starts at 60 and Travel at 60 that you may not know as well as our meet-ups and blogs, though, and that’s the community group holidays we offer through Travel at 60.

Our first group — made up of more than 80 community members who enjoyed a cruise from Melbourne to New Zealand return on Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth II in March — was so successful that another trip is being being organised for February 2020. So if you’d like to join in the fun, check it out here!

In the meantime, we hope our community group of solo travellers who’re setting off for an Indian Pacific rail adventure on Christmas Eve have a fabulous time!

It’s been a privilege to have your support this year and I can assure you that 2020 will see everyone at Starts at 60 working just as hard to bring you more information, stories, services and, of course, fabulous travel deals than ever before.