r/Glasgow Tools

My gran is in her eighties and truly one of the most social people I know. A couple of things she does to maintain this:

- Book club. She does enjoy reading but honestly I don’t think she reads most of the books they hand out, and I don’t think the other ladies do either. It seems like it’s more so an excuse for them all to get together every month and chat

- Aquafit / Pilates / any excersize class that can be adapted for older folk. This one might be a bit more daunting so maybe it’s a good shout for you to join her initially and get her chatting to folk if she isn’t so outgoing herself

- Neighbours. Some of my grans best friends seem to be her neighbours, which is always nice to hear about as they look after each others pets, sit out in their gardens together, etc. Tricky to initiate but well worth the effort

- Bowling club. Like actual garden bowls, or whatever they’re called. Her husbands since passed, but used to be an avid bowler, and that meant she was just in the bowling club a lot chatting to folk. I’ve no doubt there’s a fair amount of older folk down there socialising who have no interest in actually playing

- Travels solo. She takes bus tours or goes on cruises where there’s plenty of other older solo travellers who are keen to chat. It’s an easy way to get chatting as they’ve immediately got common ground


Hope this helps. It’s heartbreaking watching older relatives live an isolated life, but I’m glad she’s got someone like you around her who’s keeping an eye on that 💛