Old People Can Do Amazing Things Too!

Once people are past middle age, they’re old. That’s how life progresses: You’re young, you’re middle-aged, then you’re old.

Of course, calling someone old is generally not considered polite, because the word, accurate though it might be, is frequently considered rude or prejudisced.

We regularly see amazing young Athletes, in the Olympics, The Tour de France, Football Championships, Tennis etc. we get used to seeing some extraordinary achievements of young folks achieving sporting greatness, but ... some fairly remarkable things have been achieved by people we might call 'old' ...

At 52, Sir Francis Chichester sailed around the world alone in a 53-foot boat normally manned by a crew of six.

Photo by Boba Jovanovic / Unsplash

At 55, Pablo Picasso completed his masterpiece, “Guernica.”

At 58, Sony chairman Akio Morita introduced the Sony Walkman, an idea no one seemed to like at the time.

Photo by Florian Schmetz / Unsplash
At 60, Daniel Defoe wrote Robinson Crusoe, his first novel and perhaps the first-ever modern novel.

At 62, J.R.R. Tolkien published the first volume of "Lord of the Rings."

Photo by Greg & Lois Nunes / Unsplash
At 62, Colonel Harland Sanders struggled as a businessman and restauranteur until he thought of selling franchises for his fried chicken brand KFC, he sold the business at 74 (but continued to wear his white suit!)

Photo by Maxime Lebrun / Unsplash

At 62, one of our Directors cycled from Land's End to John O'Groats, a total of 1,010 miles and climbed the equivalent of Mount Everest twice. He assumed he would be one of the oldest riders on the trip, but he was amazed & encouraged to see many riders in their 70's, quite happily pedalling up those hills in the rain !!

At 69, after his wife died, Jim Robertson, of Buchlyvie, Stirlingshire, became the oldest person, so far, to have gender-reassignment surgery and lived happily as Gladys Paterson.

At 77, John Glenn became the oldest person to go into space in the Space Shuttle, 36 years after being the first US astronaut to orbit the earth aged just 41!

Photo by NASA / Unsplash
At 93, P.G. Wodehouse worked on his 97th novel, was knighted and died.

And at 100, Bo Gilbert shattered age barriers when she modeled for Vogue’s centennial issue. The photoshoot marked her first time modeling professionally (she spent the bulk of her working years at a Birmingham cardboard box factory), but fashion has always been an important part of her life. Bo, who never ventures out of her home without heels and makeup, told Vogue, “I dress for myself, I never dress up for boys.”

So why do we mention these amazing achievements by people for whom age is just a number?

Simples, Connevans is celebrating being 60 (nearly 61!) we were founded in November 1961 - we are still forging ahead, embracing new technology, amongst many things, our staff have 49" screens and our building has solar panels!

We still continue to design and manufacture in the UK, new & innovative products - just one example is the Lion, a unique device to detect a working Induction Loop

Connevans has changed considerably in the last couple of years with many of our staff working part-time from home (including a garage!) and part-time at Bridge House, some doing different jobs, but our core values remain the same - excellent service & excellent products

Even after 60+ years and some might say like a fine wine maturing with age - the level of dedication to our Connevans customers, particularly the deaf & hard of hearing community, is as strong as it ever was.

Photo by Anna Hecker / Unsplash

To read more about the sometimes more quirky side of Connevans, simply click here :-)