There is nothing like the first few bars of a favourite song to rekindle memories. When that music is Rock ‘n Roll – well, two decades come flooding back. The ‘50’s and ‘60’s is where it all happened.
From the hard times of the Thirties and Forties, the Fifties brought change:
- money started to flow again
- post-war employment flourished
- pre-war peace returned
… and the music of the time reflected the change.
Rock ‘n Roll was born!
From Bill Haley and the Comets to Australia’s own Col Joye, music inspired us. Full skirts and stiffened petticoats swirled to the beat. Men in slim-fitting suits and skinny ties, filled the dance halls. And patent-leather pointy-toed shoes jived the night away.
The Fifties were a time when music healed the scars of the Second World War and refilled the depleted banks of our emotions.
There was renewed hope.
If the Fifties renewed our hope – the Sixties liberated our senses.
The magic of television had arrived, and the world was open for viewing.
Free-love and Peace were the mantras of our youth, inspired by the hippie movement of Haight-Ashbury, San Francisco. Our own Northern Rivers town of Mullumbimby became home to hordes of city drop-outs.
But the peace of the Fifties was short-lived in the lead-up to the Vietnam War. Anti-war demonstrations were the voice of Sixties youth.
Anti-war sentiments poured out in the lyrics of Bob Dylan.
And the Beatles sang of love.
The first few bars of a song from the Fifties and Sixties takes us back to a time when age was on our side. When we stood on the brink of adulthood and the world was ours.
Aveo Rocks – National Tour
The youth of the Fifties and Sixties now do a different shuffle, creaking as they move. Health issues plague them and bones ache.
Some may not remember what they had for breakfast, but the words of the old songs come flooding back. Their feet find their way to the dance floor and they forget their aches and pains, at least for a while.
The Rockin Bodgies belt out the songs of the Fifties and Sixties.
For two hours, flared skirts and bobby-socks find their rhythm. Slower now, but no less able. For two hours the years melt away and they are young again.
Happy Days is remembered fondly as the Fonz rides back into their lives.
As Aveo Rocks shakes up Tweed Heads South, those who remember the best times, rock on.
And the world is once again as it should be, care and pain-free.
The Aveo Freedom Aged Care facility at Tweed Heads South turned on the charm for Aveo Rocks on Friday 22nd March. Terryll provided guided tours of the facility – there were a lot of Wow!’s at the end of each tour! Food and drinks were plentiful, and the staff were amazing.
So dust off your pointy-toed shoes and starch up your petticoats. There’s an Aveo Rocks coming to a village near you – and you won’t want to miss it.
