Now in its 59th year, NSW Seniors Festival (it was formerly known as Seniors Week) is the largest festival for people aged 60 and older in the Southern Hemisphere.

Community events held during the week gives people the chance to make new friends or get together with old ones.

Local events include live music tomorrow at the CWA Hall in Rusden Street, an information forum on the aged care system, and an open day at the Saumarez Homestead gardens and grounds on Saturday.

Today, Armidale’s Senior of the Year will be announced at midday at Armidale City Bowling Club. A large crowd will be there for what is the main event for NSW Seniors Festival in our city.

In today’s edition, we have looked at how seniors have kept a local institution, the Armidale Pipe Band, going strong.

John Leslie, Geoff Monley (pictured left), and Evan Lewis have more than 200 years of piping experience between them.

For more than 60 years, each of them have played the bagpipes, and while they can joke about annoying neighbours in their younger days, the band adds a great deal to our community.

It provides a link to our history, and the Scottish settlers, as well as bringing much enjoyment to many generations of local residents over the last century.

With the theme ‘Let’s do more together’, the NSW Seniors Festival is all about keeping the older members of our community engaged, which is something we see thriving in the local pipe band.

“With the number of NSW seniors growing rapidly, events like the NSW Seniors Festival are more important than ever,” the state Minister for Ageing Tanya Davies said.

“That’s why the NSW Government is proud to celebrate the achievements of our seniors and the contribution they make to the wider community.”

Sometimes it is too easy for younger members of our community to forget what our seniors can contribute.

They have a lot to offer, because they have ‘been there and done that’ and remember the history of our city.

It is important we all remember how valuable that can be for a community like ours.