YOUNG AT HEART

The last thing I wanted to see on Monday night was a bunch of oldies making asses of themselves, but I thought it was time to give More4 a chance. After listening to Eileen Hall aged 92, a GI Bride, giving it large with the Clash’s ‘Should I Stay Or Should I Go?’ with her deep gutsy voice, I was hooked. The average age of the group is 80; most of them seem to live in their own homes but Eileen lives in a residential home and is the only resident to have a front door key as by the time she gets back from rehearsal everybody, including the staff is in bed.

The documentary is such good entertainment it is bound to be shown to a wider audience so do watch it if you get the chance. They are a choir from Massachusetts and the programme is a chronicle of six weeks of rehearsals building up to a concert in their hometown, Northampton. They are led by a younger, exceedingly patient man, Bob Gilman, who gets them singing – not twilight ballads - but renditions of songs by bands such as OutKast, the Clash and Radiohead.

Stephen Walker’s film demonstrates how these very old folk live for the choir and some die for it – with no regrets, as they it gives them the friendship and fulfilment that enriches their lives. Many of them have had near death experiences and Bob asks one of the old ladies if she had seen the ‘bright light’.
‘Well I just wouldn’t look!’ she said amid laughter.

It is very sad when two of the stalwarts die in the same week when they are about to perform for prison inmates who are sitting on the grass in the open. You see the odd flicker on those hardened faces as the old folk sing Coldplay’s ’Fix you’, Dylan’s ‘Forever Young’ and Bowie’s ‘Golden Years.’ When the concert is over the convicts rise, cheering and the choir, slowly and haltingly, move closer to them until they merge and there are hugs and tears.
‘You are in my heart,’ one man told an old lady.

The concert was a sell-out with queues all down the main street. When Fred, a frail but feisty old man who had made a come back, after severe health problems, was helped into his chair at the front of the stage still attached to his oxygen; you could hear a pin drop. He sang most beautifully to honour his late friends. There are some hilarious moments – not least the director’s terror as he is driven by one of the few pensioners who can still see to drive – in theory. Don’t miss it!