GOLDEN GIRLS:
ADVICE AND INSPIRATION FOR TODAY'S GRANDMOTHERS

What challenges do live-in grannies face? Or long-distance ones? Is spoiling okay? What if parents refuse to vaccinate? Should you charge for childcare?  Is your house child-proof? These are just some of the questions tackled in my new book Golden Girls. Here you’ll find a wealth of golden girls, with a galaxy of star grandmothers: Queen Camilla, who relishes spoiling the children; Prue Leith, who admits she’s “a rotten grandmother”; Joanna Lumley, who has decided to be less glamorous and more of a granny. 
 
Discover what Dame Jenni Murray owes to her grandmother, what Oprah Winfrey and Elton John learned from theirs, and why the singer Raye brought hers to the Brit awards.  Here you’ll encounter rebels and game-changers from across the world, and funny, unconventional and courageous characters featured in films, television and literature.
 
However different they may be, all grandmothers have a shared goal: to do what they can to make the world better for the next generation. By filling those children with love, strong values, goodness and a commitment to an ethical life.
 
Golden Girls: Advice and Inspiration for Today’s Grandmothers is out now. Get your copy using the links below:

Dismiss ‘grannies’ as frail old biddies at your peril: they’re some of the toughest activists out there

“Dismiss grannies as frail old biddies at your peril,” was the headline in my recent piece in The Guardian. And judging by the response I received after it was published, those “frail old biddies” are fighting back with a vengeance. Here are some of the people and organisations who got in touch:
Jean Douglas-Webb - Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign
“The common image of a grandmother seems to be that she is a sweet old “lady” who really knows nothing about the real world, loves to look after her grandchildren, bakes cookies and would never swear and rage,” Jean Douglas-Webb wrote in response to my article. “Her fate is a rocking chair and a “senior’s” home.  I have never accepted the term “lady” or “senior”.  I’m active, I enjoy spending time with my grandchildren, I bake cookies and I swear and rage, as do many of my friends.”
Jean is a member of the Grandmothers to Grandmothers Campaign mentioned in the Guardian article,and she’s a huge fan of Paola Gianturco’s book Grandmother Power. Jean and her fellow activists often wear her T-shirts “Grandmother Power - The Force is With You”.
Jean is a gutsy, formidable and very determined woman. When a regional Grandmothers group started a Cycling Team to ride 100 kms as a fundraiser - The Solidarity Cycle Ride – she decided to join them, even though she wasn’t a regular cyclist at all.  Her first ride was in 2018 ,and from then on she was unstoppable.
 “I loved the experience and have since kept at it.  The team changed their route in 2022 (involved a gravel path, a big bridge, children and dogs!) and I still wanted to ride as a fundraiser so for the past three years I have ridden my solitary ride from Hope, BC to Aldergrove where I live, on Grandparent’s Day, the second Sunday in September.  My route is 111 kms.  This year, with some pledges still to come in, I will have raised over $9500 for the Grandmothers Campaign, making the total over the seven years $ 43,000!  In 2026 I will be 80 and my goal is to ride 128 kms, equivalent to 80 miles.  The bonus of it all is that I am active all year long, I enjoy myself and I raise a good amount of money!
I have also recently joined a local Land Conservancy group where we remove invasive plants and replace them with native species in several local parks.  I am a volunteer working with several young people who are doing incredible and important environmental work. Another way to keep active.  Being older women we are role models, so I believe we need to be out there, taking action, making change, raging, being inspirational!
Sue Fyvel - UK Grandparents Association
Sue Fyvel wrote to alert me to the start of a new organisation just getting off the ground, of grandparents and other elders to advocate for the next generations about climate change 
There are already more than 100 people signed up from the grandparent generation led by Alan Cooklin a child and adolescent psychiatrist a veteran social activist.              
 “As grandparents we have some unique opportunities as well as responsibilities to try to influence the rate of change of the planet’s climate,” Alan Cooklin wrote in an email inviting people join with other grandparents to create a UK association which can be part of a growing network of influence. He referred to the success of the KlimaSeniorinnen Schweiz – a group of Swiss senior women. Having claimed that Switzerland had violated their right to climate protection they won their case at the European Court of Human Rights. This victory, he believed, has set a precedent which acknowledges the right of individuals to be protected from the impacts of climate change. But while the Swiss women also stressed the disproportionate impacts on their health as women, Cooklin is proposing that the UK association focus not so much on our health but on the health or loss of health of our grandchildren.
“I want to join with others to help develop and strengthen a net of opinion which can allow as well as pressure governments to prioritise the fight against the ravages of climate change.” He is proposing that the UK Grandparents Association work with the many existing local and national climate action groups in the UK, as well as with other associations and scientists to form a simplified single index of damage versus protection.
Mary Mulville - Seniors Taking Action
Mary Mulville is the founder and president of Seniors Taking Action, a grassroots political activist group based in New York. The main aim of the group is to get people to vote through postcard writing, phone-banking, and voter registration. Their message is simple: they encourage people to vote and show how to register. Mary founded the campaign five years ago, and there are now participating Democratic groups in twenty states. And in the run-up to the November elections their work is especially pertinent.
Here's their mission statement:
 
Seniors Taking Action is a group of political activists working to support Democratic candidates and organizations throughout the country. We believe seniors are a powerful untapped source of volunteers for local, state, and national Democrats in upcoming elections. We have time, experience and talent, and we are determined to preserve our democracy for our children and grandchildren.
At their weekly Zoom meeting they’ve hosted a distinguished array of speakers including Howard Dean, Senator Cory Booker, Congresswoman Katie Porter and – coming soon - Liz` Chenie.
Omas Gegen Rechts (Grannies Against Facism)
Monika Salzer  founded Omas Gegen Rechts in Vienna in 2017, in protest against extreme right-wing politics. The organisation has spread to all big towns in Austria and Germany numbering about 30,000 granny activists. Its members are mostly women in retirement or close to legal retirement age, concerned about developments in politics and social life that they regard as detrimental to a future for their grandchildren.
In Germany and Austria, the Omas gegen Rechts appear at various demonstrations and events. Pink or colorful knitted hats, so-called "pussyhats", serve as a distinguishing mark. According to the organisation, the caps are "signs of non-violent resistance and solidarity". Here are some of their initiatives:
Every day for the past four years, two women have been holding a  Daily Vigil outside the chancellor’s office. They stand with banners protesting about the treatment of refugees, with the slogan “No person is illegal”.
Every Monday for the last three years a group of women stand outside parliament with a banner “ Hold together against Facism”(Zusammenhalten gegen Rechts”)
Omas-On-Stage, a theatre group formed four years ago, is very active doing regular street theatre and interventions in public places. They performerform regularly in all the big cities in Austria and are very active in all demonstrations against right-wing developments. They also support LBGTI organisations and those raising consciousness about climate change.
Omas gegen Rechts won the Paul Spiegel Prize for civil courage by the Central Council of Jews in Germany in 2020. The group was awarded the 2024 Aachen Peace Prize (Aachener Friedenspreis [de]).