FTER he invited seniors to write essays of around 500 words to describe their lives, Senior Islanders Club administrator Fred Hassell did not really know what to expect.

What he got was a melange of tales of old Bermuda, blended with the modern-day frustrations and fears of the older segment of the population.

Mr. Hassell was pleased by the response to his "Write It Down" initiative and moved by some of the descriptions of a bygone Bermuda of close-knit communities and a simpler life of greater hardship. Excerpts from these essays are shown on this page.

He believes the stories he gathered have some historical as well as sociological value.

"I am enthused with the essays," Mr. Hassell said. "These days we communicate in so many different ways ? by fax, e-mail and text messages ? but to sit down and write down our thoughts is something we don't do much any more.

"People express some of their deepest thoughts in e-mails to loved ones, but the e-mails get deleted.

"The idea was to invite seniors to write things down, to recount their experiences of growing up in old Bermuda and to talk about their accomplishments and their knowledge of the island to share with younger people.

"There was licence to write on their finest joys, their loves and their worst fears for the island and to write about their retirement and their leisure time."

The island's 6,700 senior citizens make up a growing segment of an ageing population. Approximately 15 per cent of the electorate are seniors, so their political clout is also increasing.

But in many respects, life as a senior in Bermuda continues to get tougher, particularly in the areas of income, health insurance and housing. Some of the essays touched upon those concerns.

One, in particular, focused on such problems, pointing out that at age 65, people see their health insurance coverage "cut in half".

She added that Government paid lip service to seniors, handing out plaques and politically expedient platitudes, while doing nothing to address their financial and housing needs.

"Some seniors feel that they are just being pushed aside," Mr. Hassell said. "They feel that a few cups of tea during Seniors Week is just window dressing.

"There are many seniors but even the commercial world is not paying much attention to them."

The essays show what 21st-century seniors do and how staying active appears to be a major factor in remaining happy.

touched upon the amazing changes they had witnessed over the years and recounted memories of their childhoods, of families with 12 children or more, of horse-drawn buses and simple pleasures.

One woman told of she was the youngest of 15 children, six of whom had died before she was even born, and how she slept on grass bedding in her early years.

"You can't read this kind of stuff in a history book," Mr. Hassell said.

"We are getting a glimpse into lives lived. We have people in their 80s and 90s describing a society that has disappeared.

"Stories of people growing up in Middle Town and on the North Shore and watching movies in the cellar ? it really sparked something in me."

... I AM the youngest of 11 children. Thanks to my wonderful parents who gave us good principles which prepared me for adulthood. I am now a widow, mother of four wonderful children.

So now it's my turn to give back and to enjoy the many activities and privileges that our Government of Bermuda has so graciously provided for their senior citizens of Bermuda.

I never dreamed or thought that my senior days would be my best days. I have to say, "To God be the glory", for the way he has kept me through the years, to love and do my best for others.

You know what amazes me is how times have changed. Growing up, you were taught to say Aunt or Uncle to those who weren't event your relatives. That was respect for others.

Back then elderly people looked old, because they dressed old-fashioned and some died broken-hearted. So now the new-age generation of today's seniors, they dress to kill (that was one of Bermuda's slang words) and they think they know it all. But I say to them to have a little patience with us, the Oldie Goldies, and grow in knowledge and understanding.

... I'll let you in on one of my senior moments. One day I drove to town, parked my car on the roadside, went into the bank, took care of my business and when I came out I forgot whereabouts I had parked the car.

... The saying is: "If you can't beat them, join them." So to the old and the new, to those on the way, be ever so humble, let it be the best that you can for those that are coming behind. I believe there is hope for all.

Proud to be a senior citizen of Bermuda, as I saw it, as I lived it and am I living it now.

I ALWAYS had a good time visiting my grandma Wilson. She would always take us to visit the rest of our family. I had so much fun running up and down the hills, also visiting Mr. Simmons' horse stable to see his horses at Government Gate. We also had a horse on Angle Street, his name was Wall Eye.

We had a cellar to our house on Angle Street, where we showed movies, , and others, we had fun and lots of laughs.

The movies in those days did not have any sound, our friend Freeman (Bongo) Trott used to show the movies. One day the box of film caught fire, that was the end of our movies. I think a spark came from the old projector.

... In my teens my aunt Winifred (Pansy) Bean, who lived on North Street, always had a calypso party. We had to dress in something calypso, sure was a lot of fun, as small as that house was, we were all together.

Some nights we sat on the steps at North Street, made our own music, a home-made bass fiddle and a guitar, as we sang our hearts out and danced. My grandmother Bean baked some delicious bread in her brick oven. I also remember how we used to sneak up to Unity patio to watch the folks dancing, what fun.

I have travelled quite a bit to other parts of the world, as beautiful as they may be, even though things are changing here, there is no place like Bermuda to me.

MY parents were Joseph Charles and Iona Magdaline. I am the youngest of 15 children. I grew up with five brothers and three sisters, the other six children passed away before I was born. I was born April 5, 1932.

I grew up in Middle Town and on North Shore, Pembroke East. I started school at the age of seven. Before I went to school I learned to tie my laces, spell my name and the names of the rest of my family. I also learned to say my times tables.

My grandmother on my Pa's side died when I was very young, my Mama's parents passed before I was born.

I remember when I was growing up, times were very hard. Food and money was very hard to come by. Food was rationed, so were our shoes. To buy a pair of shoes you needed coupons, you were allowed three pairs a year.

Living next door to our house was a white family that would give me the dresses that the granddaughter outgrew.

At Christmas time I would get a doll from the Salvation Army. (Thank God for them).

I slept on grass bedding until I was a big girl. I could use the self heater iron like a pro when I was very little, wash and starch clothes like the grown-ups.

I grew strawberries, peanuts, beans and corn in my tiny garden between the fig banana trees.

I went to Central School (now Victor Scott) and Sandys Primary School. I went to work for a black family at the age of 14 for half a day and stayed with that family for five years. Before I started that job, at the age of 12? years my family moved to Somerset. There I learned to do things that most children my age never got a chance to do.

While kids were playing marbles, jump rope, hop scotch, jacks and rounders (now they call the game with a longer bat, softball). I spent my days helping my Pa steam plants in a steam box as he was a boat builder and fishermen. Also knit fathoms of fish nets, sew cork on one side to keep it a float when in the water and put warm lead on the other side to help keep it firmly in the water.

At the age of 17 the Lord blessed me with the talent and the gift of dressmaking, which I am still good at to this day, at the age of 72.

I was married at the age of 30, became the mother of three, grandmother of five and the great grandmother of six.

God has blessed me well. He has allowed me to travel often and to Him I give all the praise and glory and thanks. I wouldn't trade my growing up in Bermuda for all the tea in China.

I WAS one of three children born to Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Smith. I was the middle child, my brother the oldest and my sister the youngest. We lived in many different parts of Bermuda, mostly in Warwick, but also Flatts and in the city.

... Some specific memories I have at Rocklands were when we had to put a bathtub out in the front yard filled with water to get hot in the sun. All three of us children had to get a bath in the same water.

I also remember around the same time breaking my leg. Way back then we had "grocery boys" who delivered groceries on push bikes with baskets on the front and back. One time we got tired of waiting for the grocery boy who was to bring kerosene oil for the stove, so Ismay said: "Let's go look for the delivery boy."

As we reached the gate he swung into it on the bicycle that was packed with groceries and the oil. Down we went, both him and me, the bike landed on my leg. Oh the pain! I had to go to the hospital, the one we now call "The Old Hospital". I had a plaster of Paris covering on for five weeks.

... Another time when we lived in Khyber Pass, my Uncle E.C. came to visit as usual in his horse and carriage. While he and Auntie visited inside with my parents, we children slipped outside and got up in the buggy. We yelled, "Giddy-up horse!" And Josephine the race horse ran over Khyber Pass hill with us shouting, "Stop the horse! Stop the horse!"

Back then, policemen rode three-speed bicycles. Mr. Gumbs, the police officer, tried to help but a stout lady named Mrs. Mabel Darrell, who was on the road, stood right in front of the horse and held her hands out and Josephine stood still.

The policeman took us back to the house where instead of getting the strapping we expected, Uncle E.C., seeing us visibly shaken, said we had our punishment and spared us.

After the war we moved back to Warwick to Tamarind Vale, my mother's parents were the caretakers of a big house owned by wealthy white people. This house had plenty of land with lots of fruit trees.

... Dessert was all the fruit on the property and even Japanese plums! During this time we took special walks down to Harbour Road and would sit on the wall overlooking the water and watch the sea planes land over at Darrell's Island. I still remember this amazing event as if it were just yesterday.

With so much history to share I find myself looking back in wonder at the life I lived in Bermuda and feel grateful to have been born here. Bermuda is another place now, so much has changed.

I experienced the Bermuda Railway, the introductions of automobiles, the first high school for blacks, the first political parties, many riots and unrest, and have seen tourism go through many changes - good and bad, the school system changing every so often, my children come into this world and grow up, grandchildren and great grandchildren. I will ever be grateful for being a part of our country's history that is being passed on to generations to come.

THESE are the golden years of my life. I can look back and thank the Good Lord for blessing me to be able to enjoy my 81st birthday. I do not know just what lies ahead, but I will say that my life right now is "glorious" because I know that by having faith, all good things will come to pass if you only believe.

Directions were instilled in me as a child, which I have never forgotten. Yes, there have been a few "very trying times", however, I never wasted precious days of my life sitting and worrying, because I had, and still have, "joy in my heart".

I find life very rewarding. My "to do list" includes attending the meetings at the Senior Clubs (all six), singing in the choir at the Holy Trinity Church and also, at the moment, I am president of the Guild at Holy Trinity Church. I do keep very busy and so enjoy and love doing all of the things I do as I'm growing older.

... Last year October, I entered the "Glamorous Granny" contest and won and that was a wonderful surprise and event. From that time until now, life has been very full of activities connected with being a "Glamorous Granny", with having to attend several engagements.

Also, no matter how many times I am invited to share my time with my senior friends, I also find time for the younger ones as well. I also bake cookies, bread and I mustn't forget my banana bread!

My days are so full that I really do not have time to grow old yet! Besides, I am far too busy growing old gracefully!! Also, I still love to go dancing whenever I get the chance.

My advice to all seniors is to keep active. I also love to read, knit, crochet, attend to my garden and feed my cute little goldfish. Furthermore, if you can, send out birthday cards, sympathy cards or better still, send out "just thinking of you" cards. Even phone a few friends every so often, just to let them know that you are thinking of them, especially the people who are sick and shut in.

I do try my best to keep in touch with my friends as often as possible, because it's all a part of keeping busy which does not leave me any time to sit around feeling sorry for myself for what "might have been".

As long as I feel well, I do hope to have a happy day every day. My family and friends ask me if I ever become tired and I do. However, when I'm tired after a busy day, I have a good dinner, read a little or watch a little of the television and go to bed early and I must say, I always have a good night's sleep, because no matter what my day is like, "there is nothing that can steal my joy", and rob me of a wonderful night of rest.

Live one day at a time and as the song goes, "be happy", because "life is meant to be enjoyed". As long as I feel well, I hope and try to have a happy day, every day!

IF there is one constant in life, it is that everything changes. Everything is becoming, nothing forever remains the same. And for me to stay in balance I must adjust to the changes.

I was raised by Mrs. Alicia Virgil and Claudine Virgil. Because of their love, I would say that I was a privileged youth.

The '40s in Bermuda were entrancing, the quiet feeling of freedom, the cedar trees, the singers, bluebirds, red birds as you walked along Cedar Avenue and you inhaled the perfume from the flowers hanging overhead.

The moonlight dances every week, moonlight excursions, beach parties - and that was only half the activity available to a youth growing up in Bermuda. The beautiful ocean, the soft climate made Bermuda a fairy land.

The technological age which we have now entered will alter the lives of mankind drastically. The Earth will grow of lesser importance to man as he reaches out into space.

In this stress-filled society, we must adjust to change. This fact I must face.

... Old age is a major challenge to the individual. It takes both wisdom and strength not to give way to it, socially as well as privately. Old age comes upon us as a shock for which we are unprepared. We know what to do with things, we hardly know what to do with ourselves. We know how to act in public, we do not know what to do in privacy.

One thing old age has enabled me to attain is the high values I failed to sense, the insights I've missed, the wisdom I have ignored.

The aged person thinks of himself as belonging to the past. But it is the openness to the present that we must strive for.

... We deserve reverence. But all we ask for is consideration, attention, not to be discarded. One father finds it possible to sustain a dozen children, yet a dozen children find it impossible to sustain one father. It is not how much love and kindness we think, but how much we feel.

BEING a senior in Bermuda means you are looked upon as being no longer part of "the real world" but getting in line for the graveyard.

Prejudice means we can no longer be a part of the vibrant, eternally-interesting world of commerce, office life, or a much-loved trade.

After 40, employers really don't want you. After 50, it is very difficult to find a job, and after 60 - forget it. The prejudice is insurance company driven. The more seniors on the staff, the higher the health insurance premiums. Employers don't like that. Insurance companies don't like seniors because they impinge on their profits.

At 65 the total amount of major medical coverage is cut in half. Yet, there is no discount for pharmaceuticals and medical attention.

Seniors are on a fixed income, but the cost of living rises daily. The merchants have collectively turned their backs on mature female shoppers. It is a fact of life that older women lose their waistlines, and develop round middles.

Yet all of the clothing is pencil-straight, poor quality, and designed for young women with more money than sense. Stylish senior women cannot find dresses that fit, quality clothing and accessories that are dignified. Boutique shops are everywhere and they purvey trendy junk for the young.

Despite being on fixed incomes, there are very few "seniors" discounts in stores, none in hair salons, almost none for concert/theatre performances.

The Government pays lip service to seniors, but does nothing concrete to alleviate their financial / housing difficulties. Handing out meaningless plaques and free cups of tea during Seniors Week is cosmetic window-dressing and a feel-good exercise for Government.

Bottom line: seniors are not universally respected in this community - except in politically expedient platitudes. You know the sort: "We are grateful to them for making Bermuda what it is today", etc.

Are there advantages? Yes. Free transportation on buses and ferries, a Government pension to pay the electricity and phone bills if you're lucky, an opportunity to do charity work if you can drive, time to plant a few seedlings, mix with other people your own age (how stimulating can that be?), and ... sorry, can't think of anything else.

Of course, relatives love us - as long as we are , able to fend for ourselves, and don't intrude on their lifestyles. Become forgetful, infirm, incontinent ... sorry, you'll have to go into a home now. We're busy.

Being a senior is an unstoppable fact of life. Being an active, happy, productive member of "the real world" with a wage packet is precluded.

Being generally regarded as coffin fodder, to be humoured, metaphorically patted on the head, and showered with platitudes is a reality.

Being on a fixed income that makes us count every dollar, and think ten times about luxuries, including travel. These are all parts of being a Senior in Bermuda.

WE are sitting on top of the world in comparison to the seniors of a long time ago. Back in the early '30s, after the depression of 1929 to about 1934, our seniors used to walk from Warwick or Harrington Sound to Hamilton to buy a reel of thread.

The horse-drawn bus only travelled on the Middle Road to Somerset and the North Shore Road to St. George's. Then they still had no money to travel on the new trains of 1931 to 1946 that ran through the centre of the island from St. George's to Somerset.

Grandmothers and other seniors made themselves content to help their grandchildren at home and after school by teaching them to remember their good manners, respect all seniors, helping neighbours with chores and taking them to Sunday School.

Today seniors can catch a bus every 15 minutes from Somerset, Hamilton and St. George's and there are minibuses around the parishes to take you uphill or downhill to the regular buses, to the doctor, the hairdresser, or for a drive.

... In 1946 when cars first came to Bermuda, the Government ruled that each family have only one car. This began the desire for young persons 18 and over to move out of their parents' home and pay on a car with a new address. Gradually this caused a house shortage and adding to this, the moving of American bases from here.

Landlords raised the rents for Bermudians, causing our workers to work two and three jobs a day to cover the rent and feed their children, therefore grandmothers now live in a two- or three-bedroom house alone, because they still have a car.

The seniors of the '20s, '30s, '40s and early '50s, who had six, eight or 12 children suffer the most now, because husband and wife steadily worked to feed, clothe and school these children, pay insurance, rent, electricity, telephone, doctors' bills, and found it difficult to save sufficient money for their retirement and only receive the Government pension now.

... Many seniors help out selling tags for several of the charitable organisations, some volunteer to take sick, crippled persons to their doctors or hospital weekly, some take meals four days a week to seniors who receive "Meals On Wheels", some volunteer at the hospitals, helping in the cafeterias or going from bed to bed with meal sheets for the next day's meals, or selling the newspaper and books every morning and some help their next-door neighbour.

Life is lovely is you have little or no pain and can walk from a car or bus stop to your club or grocery store.