Seniors' Group
by Dale Hjertaas and Roberta Cox
In 2022, enough people expressed interest in the idea of a seniors’ outings group that an organizational meeting was held on May 4th. Dale Hjertaas and Roberta Cox agreed to be the leaders and the group was officially formed shortly after. Guidance for group operations was approved and an initial schedule of outings developed. Weekly outings ranged from a couple of hours to all day and included some social time. Any Nature Regina member who considers themselves to be a senior is welcome to join the group. All group members, except those with health issues that prevent active participation, take their turn leading outings.
The first outing, led by Myrna Hunter and Ruth Englund on May 11th, visited Brown’s Slough, Seven Bridges Road and Route 99 and was very successful. Weekly outings were held until the end of June and then every second week through the summer.
In 2023, trips were planned for every Wednesday during the months of May and June, and every second week for the rest of the season, until the end of October.
In total that year there were 15 trips and one outing to the Imax Theater to view ‘Wings Over Water’. Locations visited include Buffalo Pound Provincial Park, the fields of the old golf course west of the Lewvan, Wascana Trails, Regina Beach trail to Buena Vista, the Southside Community gardens learning about purple Martins, a school project and Albert Park, McKell Conservation Area, Condie Nature Refuge prairie trail, Wascana Park from the Habitat Conservation area to Broad Street and the display ponds (3 trips), the northwest catchment pond, A E Wilson Park, Route 99, and finally Echo Valley Provincial Park to the Katepwa lake outlet into the Qu’Appelle river. The last trip was actually November 1 because the weather for October 25 was not cooperating.
There are 24 names on the ‘interested in participating’ list. The average attendance per trip is between 5-8 people with the lowest being 2 and the highest 12.
