AN 81-year-old weight trainer from Loughborough has been appointed as a shopping centre’s first Older People’s Ambassador.
Arthur Bexon, father-of-three, grandfather-of-five and great grandfather-of-three with another on the way, is lending his muscle to a new series of Silver Saver days at Carillon Court.
He still visits the gym three times a week despite battling Parkinson’s disease, breathing trouble and gout.
Carillon Court has launched a new, weekly promotion which will entitle senior citizens to a whole host of offers and discounts every Thursday from now until November.
The remarkably fit octogenarian has been named as the face of the Silver Savers campaign in his role as Older People’s Ambassador.
Stores taking part in the campaign include Boots, Tylers department store, Carillon News, The Body Shop, Vision Express, Carillon Court Shoe Repairs, Thorntons, Greeting Cards and H.Samuel.
Arthur has been weight training since the age of 45 when a knee injury forced him to give up football and he wanted a way to keep fit which didn’t involve running. He trains regularly with a man almost half his age, up to two hours at a time, fitting in a range of exercises to keep himself in trim and bench pressing the equivalent weight of an average adult.
Baljit Kooner, Carillon Court Manager, said: “Arthur is a shining example of a more mature person and does not let age get in his way. You can tell just from talking to him that he is very young in heart and mind. I think it is this positive attitude which helps him stay so fit.
“He puts us all to shame with his regular trips to the gym and he is the perfect candidate for our role of Silver Savers Ambassador to help launch our new discount day for senior citizens. They will be treated to a range of fantastic offers and discounts every Thursday until November.”
Arthur, a retired furniture store manager who has lived in Loughborough all of his life, said: “I used to regularly lift 100 kg but now I am down to more like 70 kg. I have quite a set routine. On a Saturday I do chest and maybe biceps but the main thing is chest.
“On a Monday I concentrate on shoulders and on a Wednesday, it’s back. I fill in with triceps, biceps and abdominals depending on where I feel I need to put the work.
“It makes you feel good and it is the social side of it too. I go there and have laugh and a joke with people – that’s what I’m known for.
“People say to me, I hope I have got a body like yours when I’m that age but not with a face like that!”
Arthur believes it is his regular trips to the gym that help keep him young at heart.
He said: “It’s like going to work. I have been doing it for so long, it becomes a regular occurrence in life and for me it is part of the routine of living.
“I have always felt that you are as old as your mind wants you to be and mine wants me to stay young!”
Arthur was made redundant from the furniture store where he worked after more than two decades. He then went on to drive a bus for a year before taking an unusual driving job at East Midlands Airport where he was a chauffeur for airline pilots, taking them between airports all over the country, back to where their journey had begun and where their cars were normally waiting for them.
After retiring from this job, he later became a community transport driver, first helping to take special needs children to school and later for more elderly passengers who were often close to his own age.
Arthur said: “I did ten years for Dial-A-Ride and had to retire aged 80 because they couldn’t insure me anymore.
“It’s just as well I still have my weight training to keep myself occupied because I’m not ready to take life too easily yet!”
For more information about Silver Savers Day at Carillon Court shopping centre, go to www.carilloncourt.co.uk
