Seniors group is hoppin’! Adventure, activity and friendship keep Grey Hares moving By: AV Kitching Posted: 4:32 PM CDT Monday, Mar. 17, 2025

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This article was published 17/03/2025 (533 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s a mild Wednesday morning in March and around 20 members of the Grey Hares of Nature Manitoba congregate at the benches near the indoor rink at Corydon Community Centre, chatting as they lace up their skates.

The group is here to skate for an hour before some head off on a five-kilometre ramble around River Heights.

There’s the option to have lunch and coffee afterwards for those who want to socialize more before they head home.

It’s a weekly occurrence — not the skating per se, but the Wednesday gatherings, and it’s one the Grey Hares very much look forward to.

“The Grey Hares are an active-living retiree group dedicated to the goals of (not-for-profit nature-appreciation organization) Nature Manitoba. Activities and outings are all volunteer-run. We handle the admin, but the members lead the activities,” group administrator Kevin Miller, 68, says.

It falls on Miller, who has been managing the group with his wife, Anita, 65, for the past four years, to update the website, send out weekly newsletters and ensure there is at least one activity scheduled every Wednesday.

This week’s skating is being led by Jill Baird, 66.

The retired fitness instructor joined 2-1/2 years ago after searching online for active community groups to get involved in.

“I wanted to make sure I was keeping the activity level I was used to with a group of people. We try to do a social event, either around the activity or right after, if we are doing something in a rink like today,” she says.

For Baird, being a Grey Hare means more than just a chance to be active — it’s a way to make new friends. She sees most of the Grey Hares at least once a a week.

“We do tend to try to see each other quite a bit. We sort of trickle in and out with grandparent duties or vacation plans,” she says.

At last count there are approximately 280 Grey Hares, although not everyone attends every activity every time. Members often carpool to destinations and share expenses. Most activities are free, and some include lunch.

A core group of around 40 regulars turn up at weekly events, with numbers spiking during the group’s monthly breakfasts on the second Tuesday of each month.

“Grey Hares members must also be current members of Nature Manitoba. Our lifetime membership fee is only $5. We welcome people to try us out before becoming a member, so consider coming out to one of our activities”, Miller says.

Miller, a member since 2013, knows most of the regulars, including June Thomson, 83, who joined in the early days after the Grey Hares first formed.

Originally from England, the longtime Winnipeg resident does not skate. She’s here instead for the walk, and the company.

Thomson has been a Grey Hare for 25 years. In the early days they were a relatively small group, she says.

“The Grey Hares is a splinter group of Nature Manitoba. It started because people in Nature Manitoba used to do things on weekends, and they realized there were a sufficient number of people who were retired that did not need to be tied into a weekend, so they stared doing it on Wednesdays,” the retired occupational therapist explains.

“I got to be friends with them. I have to say sadly there are not an awful lot of them left.”

Over the years Thomson has become firm friends with the people she’s met at Grey Hares. She says the social aspect of the group is as important as the activities.

“You meet lots of people, and some become very good friends through time. I see them outside of the activities,” she says.

The long stretches of bitter cold this winter have seen more indoor activities. When temperatures are less harsh, members are usually outside, either snowshoeing in Birds Hill Provincial Park, skiing at Beaudry Park or skating on the Nestaweya River Trail.

As summer approaches there are birding excursions, bike rides, trail hikes and canoeing to look forward to.

There’s also a four-day camping trip planned for June to Tulabi Falls in Nopiming Provincial Park following the success of last year’s visit to Black Lake, which 31 Grey Hares attended.

“Our pace of activity tends to be at the lower end of speed, but we often organize into smaller groups of similar ability. Nobody gets left behind.”–Kevin Miller

“The bar is set low when people talk about seniors and active living, but the Grey Hares are truly active. We organize cardiovascular activities, we go kayaking, paddling, hiking and cycling. June is an excellent cyclist and an excellent canoeist, and she is 83 years old,” Miller says.

However, there are less strenuous activities on offer, too.

On Wednesday, the Grey Hares will be packing breakfast kits at Harvest Meals2Go, and later this month they are going on a tour of Oseredok Ukrainian Cultural and Educational Centre.

“In between summer and winter when you can’t cycle and you can’t ski, then we do interesting cultural things like visits to the museum,” Thomson says.

Events take place all over the province. The trip rating for a particular activity considers skill and fitness. All social and cultural interest activities are rated novice.

Cycling, skiing and skating are either novice or intermediate, depending on distance, speed, and if done outside, hills.

This winter, 50 Grey Hares went on a trip to Hecla Provincial Park. They stayed at the Lakeview Resort for three days in January, heading out daily to ski, snowshoe and walk.

“Grey Hares activities are never advanced; that designation would be for something like a Nature Manitoba weeklong canoe trip. Our pace of activity tends to be at the lower end of speed, but we often organize into smaller groups of similar ability. Nobody gets left behind,” Miller says.

For Thomson, being part of the Grey Hares has given her a multitude of experiences she would not have otherwise had.

“I have been thinking of the things I’ve done and the places I’ve been to — I’ve camped in just about every provincial park, I’ve canoed down many rivers and around lakes, I’ve cycled all over the place,” she says.

“I would have never have done any of those things if I hadn’t been part of the Grey Hares.

For more information or to join, email greyhares@naturemanitoba.ca.

av.kitching@freepress.mb.ca