Calling all seniors in the Nicola Valley!

The British Columbia Seniors Games Society (BCSGS) and the City of Coquitlam are cordially inviting you to make the leap (carefully), and sign up to take part in this year’s B.C. 55+ Games, slated for September 20-24 in the Lower Mainland community.

The theme of this year’s Seniors Games is ‘Learn a new sport! Get inspired! Challenge yourself! Make new friends!

With 23 different sports and recreational activities being celebrated — from archery to whist — there’s sure to be something that appeals to everyone.

The BCSGS was founded in 1987 as a registered charitable organization serving British Columbia’s seniors population. The primary focus of the Society is the staging of the 55-plus B.C. Games — a five-day, province-wide sporting extravaganza hosted by a different community each year. In 2017, the Games will be in Vernon.

Coquitlam is expecting close to 4,000 participants from the 12 zones of the province to take part in the 2016 B.C. Seniors Games. Merritt and its surrounding area lies in the southern extremity of Zone 8, which also includes communities as far west as Lillooet, as far north as Blue River and as far east as Salmon Arm and Sicamous.

Phyllis Riley, president of the Merritt’s Senior Citizens Association, reported that Nicola Valley residents have taken part in the 55+ Games in the past. In 2010, Mary Dickie (then aged 84) traveled to the Comox Valley region on Vancouver Island — by bus and by herself — and won a gold medal in horseshoes. More recently, in 2014, Dickie’s son, Fred, rounded up a wily crew of veteran ice hockey players and entered a team in the Games in Langley, while that same year Harbans Sandhu and Diane Quinn joined forces in doubles tennis.

Riley and BCSGS local representative Ed Collins are encouraging all area seniors to attend the regular monthly meeting of the Merritt Senior Citizens Association on May 13 at 2 p.m. at the Merritt Seniors Centre (located adjacent to the Nicola Valley Museum and the Coquihalla-Gillis House).

Guest speakers at the meeting on the 13th will be BCSGS Zone 8 president Linda Haas and director Bruce Dahling. They will have a great deal more information about the Society and this year’s Games in Coquitlam.

In the meantime, anyone with questions can contact Collins at 250-378-2547.