Midlife’s magic spell
Well-known Yorkshire women led a gathering at a North Yorkshire venue to help each other find their midlife magic. Stephanie Smith went to see what it was all about. Main pictures: Kate Mallender.
IT began with a coffee date, four friends catching up, and talking, as friends do, about what was going on in each of their worlds, as women at different stages of midlife and facing the wide variety of challenges it brings. As these friends – Rachel Peru, Bernadette Gledhill, Annie Stirk and Christine Talbot – shared with and supported each other, they realised that what they were experiencing was a kind of magic – the magic of female friendship.
A seed was planted, and earlier this month it bloomed when together they hosted the first Find Your Midlife Magic event at Goldsborough Hall, near Knaresborough, where more than 100 women aged 45 to 90 gathered to take part in a day all about navigating and enjoying midlife years and its after-years, covering health and wellbeing, style and hair, grief, confidence and meeting life’s challenges.
“One thing we are all united in is refusing to be told who we should be and what box we should fit in, just because of what society expects, because of the date on our birth certificate,” said Christine in the welcome address.
The first special guests to be introduced to the audience were the winners of a makeover competition run with The Yorkshire Post. Becky Capstick, 53, a farmer and estate administrator from near York, shared that she felt lost, stylewise. “My uniform is jeans and T-shirts, and that’s it. To come out today or to go to the Great Yorkshire Show is a huge event for us.” Her daughter Emily moves to New York this month, and Becky said felt daunted at the prospect of visiting her there, because of her appearance.
Winner Linda Thompson, 69, from Wakefield, a retired occupational therapist who wanted a new look for her 70th birthday and Golden Wedding anniversary next year. She saved the life of her husband, Malcolm, with CPR when he collapsed seven years ago – he made a full recovery.
“I tend to dress down,” she said. “You’re a mum, grandma, you just get to the bottom of the pecking order, and sometimes I think they just forget who we are.”
Both were whisked away to be transformed by celebrity hair stylist Andrew Barton and fellow British Hairdresser of the Year winner Robert Eaton of Russell Eaton in Leeds, with clothes and make-up by Chris Hartley and the style team at John Lewis & Partners in Leeds. Andrew and Robert answered audience questions about mid-life hair challenges. “Hair is a part of a woman's identity. Your hair should be bespoke to you,” said Andrew. “The amount of times that a woman has sat in my chair and I’ve said come back in six month's time when it’s a little bit longer.”
Robert said: “Think about colour placement, the products that you use and the shape – there are all sorts of things you can do with colour to enhance that – deeper sections can encourage the shape to look thicker and healthier.”
Other guests included motivational