COPE Galway are shining a light on wisdom this Positive Ageing Week

COPE Galway have been actively engaged through their 2024 celebration of Positive Ageing Week, which is running until Sunday, 6 October.

The charity is elevating 27 local ageing heroes through a ‘Local Heroes Exhibition’ taking place in Galway City Museum.

The free to visit exhibition will travel to several libraries across the city and county showcasing the heroes youthfulness as they embody positive, active, and healthy ageing.

The theme for positive ageing week 2024 is ‘Challenging Ageism: Reframing How We Think, Feel, and Act towards ageing and older persons’.

COPE aims to combat negative thoughts and stigma surrounding the ageing process.  

The charity is also advocating that as life expectancy increases, so should our positive mindsets as we reframe our traditional way of thinking to a more modern outlook.

Instead of dreading the age of retirement, the local heroes have highlighted the many ways in which life improves in that period and a new adventure begins.  

One of the local heroes, Mary Divilly Sheehy, a 73-year-old retired doctor from Knocknacarra said, “If you don’t use it, you’ll lose it!”

Head of COPE Galway Senior Support Service, Jacquie Lynskey said, “ageing has changed dramatically in the last 100 years and while those who have reached great ages and are living their best lives are everywhere around us, maybe the rest of us and our societies have a little or a lot of catching up to do.” 

The Local Heroes Exhibition is an initiative of the Galway Age Friendly Programme and is supported by Galway City and County Council.  

To read more about the local heroes visit https://www.copegalway.ie/advocacy-and-awareness/positive-ageing-week/#Local-Heroes