OAPs' time-travel holiday

Aug 13 2008 by Amy Pate, Staines News

With the credit crunch kicking in and many people eschewing their summer holidays, a group of pensioners are busy living it up in Egham Hythe.

Five Egham Hythe churches have banded together to take 50 senior citizens on their summer holidays without even leaving the area as they 'travel through time'.

Curate at St Paul's Church, Sue Loveday, explained the idea was to organise a week of activities with each day themed to a different decade.

She said: "They may not be able to travel physically, but we're giving them the chance to be time travellers."

Church workers came up with the idea when they realised a lot of older people were missing the chance to go on a summer holiday.

The Rev Loveday said: "Lots of senior citizens can't afford to go away, especially with the cost of living rising so sharply. Or there might be some who are not well enough to travel, or who have not got anyone to go away with."

She said the week's time travelling theme saw their visitors go back to the 1920s on Monday, featuring an old-time music hall theme, the 1930s yesterday (Tuesday) and the 1940s today (Wednesday).

The Rev Loveday added: "We had a make-your-own fun day on Tuesday, in keeping with the era, and on Wednesday we're having a mini-Olympics day to celebrate the 1948 Games."

The day's sporting activities will include darts and shove ha'penny, with medals awarded to the winners.

They will be remembering the Coronation with a celebra-tory lunch on Thursday and will finish the week in swinging sixties style when the pensioners set off for a river cruise from Runnymede to Windsor.

The group can also reminisce about the history of their own area.

The Rev Loveday added: "We've found some wonderful pictures of The Hythe through all our different years, so we'll have them on display for the week. Hopefully, it will stir some memories for people."