LONG life and healthy living are celebrated every year by a growing Tea Gardens-Hawks Nest group calling themselves the ‘47 Club’.

The informal group began back in 2008, when a nucleus of eight ladies suddenly realised that they shared the same birth year, of 1947.

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Since then, the group has grown through word of mouth to 36, who now jointly celebrate together for a reason none other than life itself.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Tea Gardens-Hawks Nest ranked at the top of the list of ‘oldest median ages’, in both the 2016 and 2021 census data, with the local median being 65.5 years in 2021.

Statistically speaking, therefore, it was almost inevitable that a group such as the 47 Club could find such numbers here.

“We get together three or four times a year, an awesome group of ladies,” Robyn Webster, one of the 47-ers, told News Of The Area.

“We usually average 18-20 turning out, which is great.”

These female ‘Boomers’ love and share a wide range of interests, among them aficionados of golf, bowling and crafts to name but a few.

They have all witnessed more than seven decades of change in Australia, considering the cultural and social waves of the 1960s and ‘70s, the heady ‘80s, the economic downturns of the 1990s and early 2000s, into the dark heart of the recent pandemic.

Back in 2017, when they all hit the big seven-oh together, the 47 Club ladies chose to celebrate with a cruise to Lemon Tree Passage.

Lately, they have been enjoying the excellent dining options around the twin towns, with the most recent birthday bash held at Mumm’s on the Myall in Tea Gardens, celebrating their collective 76th birthdays.

By Thomas O’KEEFE