From table tennis to Frisbee, wellness café keeps Mount Lorne seniors on the move

It's pretty typical to find table tennis at a rec centre.

In Mount Lorne, Yukon, the table is in the warming hut that serves as the team benches for the outdoor rink. But the woodstove isn't lit to take the chill off. 

Bob Sharp is bent over and twisting in the arm of the tennis net onto the table. The 77-year-old is a retired teacher and an old hand at table tennis.

"When I lived in Old Crow, I played this a lot. We used to have a movie night on Saturday night and we played it all the time," said Sharp.

Sharp and his wife are at the Seniors Winter Wellness Café. It's a new weekly program every Tuesday at the Lorne Mountain Community Centre.

Organizers say it's a chance for Mount Lorne's seniors to socialize and be active without having to do the drive into Whitehorse, especially in the winter. The small community is about a half-hour drive south of the city. 

Each week there's a new activity to try. On this day, it's cup speed stacking. There's even a friendly competition among the seven or so people while they eat their lunch. Later, there's the chance to play games or go for a walk. 

"It keeps you moving. It also keeps the brain active and it keeps you part of the community," said Sharp. 

The wellness café could be also fighting loneliness. According to Statistics Canada, 1.4 million seniors say they feel lonely. Loneliness can affect one's health, it lowers cognitive function, it increases premature death as well as the risk of heart attack, stroke, depression and the risk of falls. 

But none of the seniors here says they feel alone.

"If you're part of a community, loneliness isn't so much a concern," said Sharp.

Sharp and his wife moved to Mount Lorne over 40 years ago. Over the decades, he says neighbours and friends helped build the Lorne Mountain Community Centre. Now they are the seniors using it as the wellness café. 

'There's a need'

"I think there's a bit of a need for it," said Bianka Walcher.

Walcher is with the Lorne Mountain Community Association and helps put the program together. 

She's outside on the tennis courts playing a game invented on the spot. A small group is throwing Frisbees through Quidditch rings, the sport played in Harry Potter, leftover from the community's Halloween party.

"I think it's a wonderful thing to have a reason to get out. It's getting darker," said Walcher.

Walcher says although the program is new this year, the group is already enthusiastic. 

"They're quite eager. They even made soup for everybody today," she said.

Inside the main community centre hall, Dawn Bouquot is playing a game of cribbage. 

She and her husband, Dave, moved to Mount Lorne over 40 years ago. 

"I think it's really important that where you spend half your life or three-quarters of your life in one place, that you can age in place," said Bouquot, 66.

"I think everybody should try to keep their mind active, their bodies active and I don't know, their hearts active. Just enjoy what you're doing finally and make time to be community."