Bayside seniors can get ideas on ways to stay healthy at the 2009 Fit and Active Forever Expo on Wednesday 23 September.

Bayside City Council will host the event as part of this year’s Victorian Seniors Festival at the Hampton Community Centre.

The Expo will bring a range of local community groups, activities and entertainment together to promote ways Bayside senior residents can stay fit, active and healthy within the community.

Members from more than 25 seniors groups and community organisations will network, meet new people, catch up with friends and enjoy the entertainment together.

Bayside City Council Mayor Cr James Long said the Expo will be a thank you to Bayside’s seniors community and will help launch the Victorian Seniors Festival celebrations, which runs from 23 September to 16 October 2009 in Bayside.

“Seniors are an integral part in building and maintaining a strong sense of community and the Fit and Active Forever Expo is a great way of celebrating their contributions,” Cr Long said. “I encourage all of Bayside’s older residents to get involved and benefit from the Victorian Seniors Festival activities and events on offer locally.”

For a $2 entry fee, the Fit and Active Forever Expo hosts activities including strength training and tai chi classes, discussions from health and medical professionals and representatives from the Council on the Ageing (COTA), as well as afternoon tea, showbags and raffle prizes.

Also as a special feature this year, the Brighton Historical Society will have a stall displaying unidentified photographs, encouraging seniors in the community to help identify them. Visitors are also encouraged to bring along their own old photos to ask the Society’s volunteers to help recognise them and piece together the region’s history.

The 2009 Fit and Active Forever Expo will run from 1-4pm on Wednesday 23 September at the Hampton Community Centre, 14 Willis Street Hampton.