Silver Social

Silver Social

may 2007

silver social

upfront, one to watch, may 2007, COMMENTS

London’s Ministry of Sound played host to a new kind of party at the end of March - the Silver Social, funded by Southwalk council as the culmination of a week’s festival to celebrate the songs, past times and memories of the generation that kicked it all off.

Running from March 21-25, the activities focused on three key events; an art exhibition (Silver Views), a dance afternoon (Silver Steps), and a party at the Ministry of Sound (Silver Social) - each designed to reflect the evolving tastes of Southwalk’s elderly constituents.

And each has been heralded a success. The Silver Views initiative bought the artwork of the over sixties to a wider audience, thanks to an exhibition at the Novas Gallery on Southwark Bridge Road, while the Silver Steps dance social gave those sexy sexagenarians a chance to show everyone how it’s done as part of a community dance workshop.

Cllr Lorraine Zuleta, Southwark Council’s executive member for culture, leisure and sport said: “This festival offers a really exciting opportunity for older people to get involved in a week of celebrations all aimed at people aged sixty years and over.

“The programme of events has been put together following input from a variety of organisations working with older people so we knew it would deliver exactly the kind of activities that they want to see.
“I’d urge anyone 60 or over who lives or works in Southwark to take part in the next event. It promises to be the perfect opportunity to meet new people, pick up some new skills or just kick back and have some fun.”

Accordingly, the casual observer might have noticed something different about the queues around Ministry during the afternoon of 31 March. Around 400 up-for-it baby boomers turned up at the club, vacated only hours before by lithe swarms of Hed Kandi fans. Not surprisingly, the house music policy was out, and rather than a traditional DJ, attendees at the event voted for a compilation of their top 20 songs (known as the Silver Sounds record) to be created. Topped by Elvis Presley, Sinatra and Streisand, the soundtrack played out as the many couples weaved their way around the club’s signiature Bodysonic floor and moving lights.

It’s easy to romanticise old age, but signs of a renewed fondness and respect for our forbearers have begun to crop up. Last year, 50 twenty-somethings raised thousands of pounds for Age Concern by scaling the 30 floors of the Union Jack Club in Waterloo (a social club for ex-service personnel) while interest in acts like The Zimmers, an over sixties mixed choir, has grown sufficiently for them to release their first single on the 28 May: a cover of My Generation.

What we may be experiencing is the first generation of legally prescribed ‘elderly people’ who were also once young adults in the modern sense, and this has bought down the generational wall between the young and old.

There has doubtless been much market research into the social habits of the elderly, the middle aged and the mature singles market, and it’s not hard to imagine that there are needs to be filled and money to be made from this sector. The return of dinner-dancing in London venues like Pigalle (and most recently in Newcastle, at As You Like it) demonstrates a willingness to experiment; a roster of daytime dance events and social mixers designed to appeal exclusively to the mature market would fill otherwise unused trading hours with new bar sales and door takings.

Meanwhile, the Silver Social signals a milestone in the history of young adulthood and the popular culture of the post war era. As the minutes ticked towards midnight on 31 December 2006, the last teenagers of the 1950s - the first generation of Western youngsters to be identified and targeted by modern marketing techniques, the first to witness a Beatles gig or worship James Dean and Marilyn Monroe - all turned sixty. We’re not culturally so young anymore; hopefully, more organisations will reflect on the multi-generational desire to be social.

From: May 2007 Issue

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