This week we look at the positive impact of keeping fit over the age of 60. We showcase some candid images captured by photographer Mike Goldwater of London Underground passengers between 1970-1980 and honour Yvette Lundy, a French Resistance member and concentration camp survivor who has sadly died at the age of 103.
Are you as healthy as you think?
Research by several Health agencies show a decline in exercise or participation in activities that require physical exertion in the over 60’s population. This is normally attributed to these individuals wanting to partake in more leisurely or less strenuous activities such as reading or watching TV. However, exercise becomes more vital the older we get as it reduces the decline of muscle mass, helps us to keep our joints flexible and mobile, keeps blood pressure low and helps us maintain bone strength.
So, are you as fit and healthy as you might think you are? Take this comprehensive quiz by the University of Rochester Medical Centre to find out.
Mike Goldwater Underground series, 1970 – 1980
For ten years, photographer Mike Goldwater hopped from tube station to tube station, taking candid snaps of revellers, dreamers and misfits. With scarce lighting, tickets sold from a window hatch and carriages filled with cigarette smoke, the Underground of the past is captured by Goldwater in mesmerising detail.
To see more of the series, click here.
Yvette Lundy; survivor and a great lady of the Resistance
During the second World War, school teacher Yvette Lundy and her family hid Jews at their farm and supplied them with fake papers in attempts to protect them from the Nazis. She was a member of the French Resistance, specifically a network referred to as the Possum Escape Line.
Due to her heroic efforts, Yvette was arrested at the age of 28 in 1944 and taken to the Ravensbruck concentration camp. There she endured unimaginable hardship, dehumanisation and suffering. Speaking of her experience she said “you’re like a hole, a hole full of emptiness and if you look around it’s more emptiness”. She was transferred to Buchenwald concentration camp where it was liberated in 1945 and after 15 years recovering from her experience as a survivor, Yvette became a spokeswoman and promoter of peace between France and Germany – speaking to students about the importance of togetherness. She was made a Grand Office of the Legion of Honour a few years ago, making her one of the highest decorated civilians of France.
Yvette passed away at the age of 103 in the town of Epernay and has been honoured across the country, described as representing “the honour of France during the darkest hours of our history” by the Mayor of Epernay, Franck Leroy.
