A group of Burnaby women are celebrating four decades of keeping fit and having fun.
ALIVE, which stands for All Ladies Interested in Vitality and Energy, is an exercise group that has been meeting in Central Park every Monday, Wednesday and Friday for 40 years. (The group isn’t a stranger to the spotlight, having been featured in the Burnaby NOW for its 25th and 35th anniversaries.)
While women have come and gone over the years, two have been a part of ALIVE since it began – Marian
McKeown and Betty Forbes.
Now 86 and 94 years old, respectively, the pair signed up back in 1977 after radio disc jockey Terry Moore announced he was starting an exercise group and anyone was welcome to join.
“Terry Moore said, ‘Come on out to a meeting at the radio station,’ and so I was picked up and the man that picked me up was a little late in picking me up and the doors were all locked (at the station), and anyway, we walked in and everybody clapped, and we didn’t know why,” Forbes said.
“They said the next one comes in will be the secretary,” McKeown laughed.
“So I helped make up the rules, and hung around for a couple of years,” Forbes said.
A couple of years turned into four decades for the pair. What started as “Moore’s Milers” with about 65 people – both men and women – for the first few years was pared down to 36 by the 1980s.
“We came from all over Vancouver because it was broadcast on the radio. Now it’s pretty much people from around here (the park),” McKeown said.
The group still meets three times a week every week for one hour at Swangard Stadium. The group first met in Vancouver but moved to Burnaby’s Swangard Stadium when they got word they could use it for free.
But it’s more than exercise that keeps these women coming back week after week.
“It’s the camaraderie,” McKeown said.
Once a month the club’s social committee plans an outing for the women. They used to go out of town, McKeown said, and one time they even went to Reno, Nevada. Now they stick closer to home. They visit places like Stanley Park in Vancouver and River Market in New Westminster.
“The next one is Queen Elizabeth Park and we’re going to go to the conservatory and walk around the park and have lunch,” Forbes said. “There’s always a lunch.”
Over the 40 years, the group has only had to cancel a handful of sessions, Forbes added, the most recent being this past winter when heavy snowfall made it impossible for the group to traverse the paths from the parking lot to the stadium. Otherwise, the group meets no matter what the weather is like.
“I try to get here every Monday, Wednesday, Friday. I don’t always make it,” Forbes admitted.
And that’s pretty typical of everyone. On average, about 20 people turn out to each session; they don’t often get the full 36, and right now there aren’t even 36 members. They still have space for about four members. (They have 32 women signed up right now.)
Anyone women interested in joining can just show up to a session. The group meets Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 9 a.m. at Swangard Stadium.
