Searching for Things to do when retired 27 October 2019 at 7:06PM in Over 50s MoneySaving 23 replies 6.8K views

westv

Just wondering where people have looked to find things they might be interested in doing when retired.

I've seen:-

https://do-it.org/
https://www.meetup.com/
Just searching on google for things such as "art classes" "language learning" or whatever.
Library?
Local council evening class website.
U3A websites

Any others? Not including any that might be region specific though.

DigForVictory

Volunteer with scouts? Need not be many hours a week, but like getting a bucket of water in the face, drawn from the fountain of youth.

Yes the little dears are occasionally little toads (a very few manage to be that a large amount of the time) but just spending time with all that energy is infectious.

westv

DigForVictory wrote: »

Volunteer with scouts? Need not be many hours a week, but like getting a bucket of water in the face, drawn from the fountain of youth.

Yes the little dears are occasionally little toads (a very few manage to be that a large amount of the time) but just spending time with all that energy is infectious.

The thread was meant more "where to look" rather than what to do.

westv

I've just noticed my thread has been moved here.

Brynsam

Your local library is an obvious starting point.

westv

Brynsam wrote: »

Your local library is an obvious starting point.

Already mentioned in first post.

Savvy_Sue

I think it depends what you are interested in. Ramblers Association and the Walking for Health websites will let you find local walking groups, and the latter may be particularly useful if you want to get back to walking or take it up after a period of illness or inactivity.

But I can't think of any non-region specific way of finding eg a local choir or knitting group. And honestly, why would that matter? When I reitire, I shall want activities here, not the other end of the country ...

There are organisations such as the Mothers Union (no longer restricted to Mothers, or even women); Women's Institute; Townswomen's Guild. Rotary, Lions and Probus are also available. Some professions have retirement groups.

zagubov

I'd recommend looking in your workplace.

The happiest retirees are those who keep working (but we're talking part-time). The happiest of these are the ones doing jobs similar to their pre-retirement work (starting a new type of job can be stressful and counter-productive).

Retiring 100% all at once is a daft way to switch to retirement.

I can post links to the research that supports these claims.

This article is well worth a read and this one refers to the findings I mentioned.

Some people elsewhere have mentioned signing up as film extras for crowd scenes.

Signing up for TV audiences is good if you're near any studios.

westv

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

But I can't think of any non-region specific way of finding eg a local choir or knitting group. And honestly, why would that matter? ...
.

Because this is a UK wide forum and people who might look in this thread for ideas could be anywhere in the UK.

westv

zagubov wrote: »

I'd recommend looking in your workplace.

Not sure about anybody else reading this thread but my current workplace is 200 miles from home. :D

badmemory

To me the great thing about being retired is that I have spent less than 5 minutes in the last year bored. Much better than working! No volunteering, no part time work, no classes, but then I am not much of a people person. I do think that if you need people in your life then you do need something which gets you out there.