One woman's adventure - you're never too old to travel

Helen Campbell was pushing 60 when she decided to go on a road trip, she tells Margaret Jennings.

IT sounds like a scene from Thelma and Louise, but instead of having a female buddy with her hair blowing in the wind, Helen Campbell had her husband Peter McKenna.

It was 2007. She was 57, he had retired, and she decided to give up her own job to “go on an adventure” to Italy and France for a couple of years.

“When the day came I was petrified. We were driving away from the house with this ancient car full of stuff and I said, ‘My god, whose big idea was this?’”

It was hers.

A remark made by a neighbour, also at the empty-nest stage, that he and his wife were like Darby and Joan — the proverbial phrase for a married couple destined for a quiet life of mutual devotion — was the spark.

The nerves didn’t last long. Helen and her husband had a wonderful time on a tight budget — she was blowing her SSIA fund. Lack of finances is no excuse not to get up and go, she says.

“I truly would urge anyone if you have a long-term dream to do it now, or put the plan in place. You’re never too old to do anything, once you feel the fear and do it anyway.”

Now 63, Helen carries this enthusiasm into her job as education and training manager at Age & Opportunity, a group that aims to inspire everyone to reach their full potential as they age.

“Our goal is to turn the period from age 50 onwards into one of the most satisfying times in people’s lives, by facilitating opportunities to engage in arts and cultural activities; sport and physical activity and so they can learn to be involved as active citizens.”

Helen has found that some older women who have stayed full-time at home tend to devalue themselves. “I was giving a talk recently and one woman who was the mother of 12 children, when asked to introduce herself, said she hadn’t done anything with her life.”

She herself was a stay-at-home mum to Sorcha, Donal, and Aoife, now in their 30s. But, aged 42, she did an MA in communications and cultural studies and started working as an outreach worker in Ballymun Job Centre. From there she became project manager of an EU Youthstart project, then a programme manager of the National Youth Council of Ireland, and CEO of the Exchange House Travellers Service, before embarking on her adventure.

The two-year hiatus from employment did not interfere with her job prospects as she edged towards 60. In 2010 she became programme manager at Age & Opportunity and was later appointed to her current post.

Last year she was elected as an Irish representative and vice-president of AGE Platform Europe, which aims to voice and promote the interests of the 150m senior citizens in the EU.

It’s a busy life. And, having celebrated her 40th wedding anniversary last month, she thinks it’s important to remain vital as we age. “These days from the age of 50 there is the potential of another 40 years ahead. We need to plan for that and to keep ourselves as healthy as we can,” she says.

One of the keys to ageing well she believes, is “to go on learning”.

Helen tries to keep physically fit by abiding by the 30-minute-a-day workout all 50 -plus people are advised to maintain: “I either take the dog out for a walk or do the treadmill. But when it comes to diet I can be a bit erratic — I try to eat healthily but my love of chocolate gets in the way, I’m afraid!”

Her next dream is to study European art history. It will involve travel. Anyone for a road trip, then?