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Nan Kelly, now helped by her daughter Deborah, is still passing on craft tips to the creative folk of Melbourne’s Boronia.
“One chappy comes to see me – he’s 45 – and I can remember when he wasn’t big enough to look over the counter.” Dr Sarma says that equivalent rewards flow in cultures where older people live with their families and are respected and valued as elders. “This is associated with significantly lower rates of suicide and depression in older people in these places.” The benefits of work can cut both ways, too. “Grandparents looking after their grandkids, for example,” says Dr Sarma. “For some, it can be intellectually and physically stimulating, and personally rewarding.” “Activity” is the operative word, says Dr Sarma, in both mind and in body. “Whether you keep on working or you fill in your spare time pursuing your interests, stay busy.”
Nan Kelly, 76 owner of craft store, Nancraft, melbourne
The fact that Australia’s population is getting older
could turn into a win-win situation for baby boomers. Why? It’s all to do with work. Science is discovering that working in general is very good for our health – mentally and physically – and it looks like there will be plenty of jobs around in the future for retirement-age employees wanting to work beyond their 65th birthday. The Australian Treasury’s 2010 Intergenerational Report says that by the time the country’s population peaks at 35 million in 2050, the number of people between the ages of 65 and 84 will have doubled. On the other hand, employment participation will have dropped to around 60 per cent from the 65 per cent it is today. To shore up our ever-dwindling workforce, the federal govern ment is bringing in programs to encourage older Australians to work on past retirement age – and that’s not a bad option for boomers searching for their fountain of youth. Dr Shanthi Sarma, a Gold Coast psychiatrist specialising in old age, says people who regularly strive to improve their physical and mental fitness are best equipped to ward off the spectres of depression and cognitive decline in later life. Work, whether as a paid employee or a volunteer, also nurtures other elements vital for good health. These include social interaction and the feelings of self-worth arising from job satisfaction.
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Nan Kelly is grateful she was passionate enough to open her craft shop Nancraft when she did, back in 1971. Within a few years, her husband died aged just 41 and Nan was left to raise five children – aged from 8 to 16 years – alone. “Legacy helped me because I was a war widow – my husband served in Malaya and Vietnam – but the income from the shop helped enormously. I had five children to educate,” she says. Nan’s children called their mum’s Melbourne craft shop a second home. They would arrive after school, then wait for their mother to finish up, hanging around for late-night shopping on Fridays and again on Saturdays until 4pm. The hours were long but the business grew. Nan started employing staff and that allowed her the occasional holiday with her family. These days, with the insurance requirements that now come with having employees, Nan’s holidays are long gone and she manages the business with just the help of her daughter Deborah, 50. While Nan has always served the community of Boronia – in Melbourne’s outer east – her shop has shifted premises several times to keep ahead of rising rents. Her loyal customers have come with her. “I have customers who have been coming since we opened. One chappy comes to see me – he’s 45 – and I can remember when he wasn’t big enough to look over the counter,” Nan laughs. She has been at her current shop – a cosy treasure trove of tapestry equipment, knitting wool, rug-making tools and assorted craft supplies – for six years. Craft trends, she says, flow like a river. She remembers the macramé boom in the late 1970s and says that, these days, her customers include male tapestry lovers, elderly women knitting or embroidering heirloom gifts for grandchildren, and younger people keen to follow in their family’s crafty footsteps. While the shop keeps her mind active, Nan also does a weekly fitness class for over-50s. “We’re no chickens!” she says, laughing. She sees herself working for as long as her health allows. “I enjoy doing what I do,” she says. “When you’ve been used to being with people all day long for as many years as I have in the shop, it would be sad to say goodbye to it.”