Special feature: Keeping fit in your 80s

MY name is Tom Gilmore. I was born on July 23, 1930, and that makes me 83 years and 6 months old, an age at which most people of this era are spending their days sitting in a cosy room reading, dozing or watching television. That’s fine if that’s what they really want to do, but I can’t do that.

Tom Gilmore – aged 83; Racquets, Thame’s eldest member

I am one of those strange people that have a constant need to do something, to achieve something on a daily basis, even if it’s just mowing the lawn.

I am a retired London Fire Brigade Station Officer and before that I was a soldier and before that a merchant seaman. I had my first trip to Canada in 1946, when I was just 16 years old; such was my restless urge to do something very different. All of these occupations were extremely physical which suited me fine.

It was whilst I was a soldier serving in Egypt in 1950, that I became interested in physical training. I had done a lot of running and had swum in the Suez Canal, but training in a purpose designed environment with others was new to me and I became fascinated with working out with weight lifting equipment on a regular basis. Those days were all about building one’s body. We were already extremely fit and healthy. These days, I just train to maintain my body and unbelievably, I thoroughly enjoy doing it.

I’ve been a member of Racquets Fitness Centre in Thame for four years now. I’ve had memberships of many gyms over the years, including Boxing and Karate, but I found Racquets quite the finest as everyone is so friendly. Racquets is like a home-from-home; the training staff are talented and knowledgeable, the members greet each other like friends which they soon become, and new members who are training for probably the first time in their life, fit in beautifully and are soon comfortable in the training environment.

There is so much versatility in this gym, with many types of apparatus and techniques to bring about a strong, healthy life style, and when you feel fit you feel good about yourself. I do and I assure you that you will do too.

By Tom Gilmore (83 years young!)