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A heartfelt film celebrating ten years of the #ElderWisdom movement, The Green Bench follows five remarkable residents from Schlegel Villages as they return to meaningful places in their lives. Joan Demetriadis journeys to St. John’s, Newfoundland to reconnect with her roots and reflect on the community that shaped her. Doug Robinson travels to England, revisiting memories of love and adventure. Tom Farr returns to Elmira, Ontario, where his lifelong connections to family and faith come full circle. Doug and Jan Nash visit Ottawa, sharing stories of family, resilience, and changing perceptions of aging and care. Together, their stories illuminate the campaign’s mission—to honour the wisdom of the elder and bridge generations through conversation on the green bench.
Transcript
00:00The world has changed in the last 90 years, and I've watched it change.
00:10We ready?
00:12We're off to England.
00:16There's so many wonderful memories of the time living there.
00:21In St. John's, it's just going to be a wonderful experience.
00:26Are you ready for our day in Elmira?
00:28Yes.
00:30It's been so exciting.
00:38We haven't been back for a while.
00:40We originally were here in Ottawa, and we're anxious to see how it had developed from that time, and it
00:49has.
01:00That's where my wife and I used to catch the train. We'd go to Brighton and have our fish and
01:06chips, and it was our place. It's where we did our courting, eh?
01:14I'm going to my home. The house has changed a little bit, but it's still the original house.
01:19How are you?
01:20How are you?
01:20Coming back to Newfoundland, St. John's, just to see this. It's really amazing.
01:26Let's see.
01:28We're here.
01:30Brighton?
01:31Yeah.
01:31Oh!
01:32Hey!
01:33Happy Happies!
01:46Our relative people have more wisdom than we could ever imagine, and we need to share that.
01:52Oh, your friendly one. I knew you was a friendly one. I got you here by talking to your dog,
01:59and you fell for it.
02:00I did.
02:01Now you've got to sit here for half hour and talk to me.
02:03Oh, no!
02:14Oh, look at that. That is beautiful. You're the best.
02:20It goes by so fast, so do what you've got to do, or what you want to do now, because
02:26you never know.
02:29You don't know what tomorrow's going to bring.
02:31I miss the horses.
02:36Experience is what drives a person, I think, and what makes us who we are, and that's how we share
02:41our lives.
02:42I'm Doug's grandson. We flew in, my wife and I flew in from Berlin on Monday to surprise him with
02:49our daughter, his great-granddaughter Harriet.
02:53Surprise!
03:02Oh, you have to be thankful. Time's moving fast.
03:08Don't it, don't it, don't it!
03:12But we're okay.
03:15It's been the most exciting and the most fulfilling and worthwhile thing that I've done, I think, probably in my
03:23life, because I know I'm late in life, right?
03:27So I don't know how much time we all have left.
03:29I'm Joan, and we're doing the 10th year anniversary of the Green Bench for Schlegel Villages. And this is Take
03:38One.
03:52And do you have anything that you wanted to say?
03:55I don't think so. I think I've took the hind leg off of a donkey.
03:59Bye-bye.
03:59See you in Oh, we're coming soon.
04:00Bye-bye.
04:00Bye-bye.
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