Patricia Dawson, Go for Life trainer with Age and Opportunity, stresses the social element of exercise
I started out as a physical activity leader (Pal) with Age and Opportunity in 1994 and over the years became a tutor for the Go for Life programme and then later a trainer of tutors on this programme.
Go for Life, which is funded by the Irish Sports Council, trains older people to become leaders of physical activity programmes in active retirement and senior citizen groups, older men's organisations and Irish Countrywomen's Associations.
My job is to run workshops in various places around the country. We run these workshop programmes from September to June with a break in the summer months.
When I'm giving the workshops, I have to get up at about 7am and set off at about 8am to arrive at my destination for a 10am start.
The workshops themselves are about five hours long, but the frustration of travelling long distances is offset by the pleasure I get from observing the group and hearing the laughter of the participants.
There are eight workshops in each series and we'd have 12-30 people at each workshop.
We always stress that the social element outweighs the physical element and that our sessions are health-enhancing physical activity as most older people are more concerned about their health than their fitness levels.
We look at safety issues first, teaching Pals the value of warm-up exercises and wearing the correct footwear and clothes for various activities.
Then we go through various activities they could do with their group - such as walking and dancing. For this, we teach line-dancing and stepping and strolling.
I explain the importance of 30 minutes exercise a day - 10 minutes at a time or all in one go - for older people.
Some people will say, "I'm too old to exercise" and they get frightened about change but if you show them how much fun it can be, they get enthusiastic.
It's as much about being sociable as it is about getting exercise.
In the second half of the workshop series, we look at social sports such as bowling, pitch and toss and kurling (a Scottish disc throwing game). We look at key elements of active living such as how to improve balance, strength and flexibility.
The whole idea is to empower older people to become more active. Our programmes are targeted at those who are living independently.
In the last workshop, we look at the skills Pals will need to communicate with those who may have hearing or understanding difficulties.
Training older people to become Pals is a brilliant example of voluntary peer leadership at a time when voluntary work is not so popular.
I love my work and as the population gets older, I can see that there will be more and more need for tutors and trainers on such programmes.
In an interview with Fiona Tyrrell