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One man knows the secrets of living a long, healthy life, and it's all about one activity

1 February 2025 at 13:13

A man who is 92 years old is not only still competing in his activity of choice, he's teaching others the secrets of how to live a long, healthy and fulfilling life.

Ivan Pedley, a retired toolmaker, plays ping-pong twice a week and said he has no plans to stop any time soon.

The grandfather of three took up the paddle sport when he was 14, news agency SWNS reported. Now, 78 years later, he's still playing.

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The retiree plays roughly 14 games a week at the Great Wyrley Table Tennis Club in Staffordshire, West Midlands, England.

He often goes up against opponents who are much younger, SWNS said.

And while he may have slowed down a bit over time, Pedley said he rarely gets knocked off the table and that success at the sport is all about "technique."

He said regular ping-pong playing helps him stay fit and healthy and that continuing to play it well into his senior years is the best thing he's ever done.

"I enjoy every minute of it.", said Pedley, who lives in Walsall, West Midlands.

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"It's the best thing I've ever done. I don't know anyone older than 92 playing."Β 

He said that while others who play might be "faster" than he is, "it's all in the technique."

There are "a lot of people in their 60s" who play, he said, "but I play the younger people, too. I try to play everybody at the club.

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"I'll keep going for as long as I can, as long as my health stays. Sitting on your backside is no help to anyone."

He said he first found his passion for ping-pong while he was a teenager and let it go for a while when he was in his 20s.

But once he reached his 60s, he rediscovered his love of the sport after a chance game with a friend while on vacation, he said.

He then started playing regularly again while also continuing to stay involved in bowling, swimming and judo. He's a brown belt.

Pedley said he believes he's gotten better at ping-pong because of the standard of skill in those he's playing against these days.

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He added, jokingly, "I do let these [them] win sometimes, though, because I don't want to dishearten them."

Pedley goes to the club on Tuesdays and Fridays, he said, spending up to three hours each time.

"I don't want to sit here and do nothing," he said. "I like to keep myself healthy. … I keep going. It makes me get up and do it.

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"Once you're committed, you have to try and turn up. I'd tell anyone to join a club to start with.

"I've done amateur competitions. I've got certificates from what I've achieved at table tennis."

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"He'll always put his heart into it," club Secretary Tony Reeds told SWNS about Pedley/.

He said Pedley will play against "anyone" who comes into the club to play ping-pong.

"He's part of the furniture now. He's had some good games."

Pedley tells people, "If you want to keep fit, this is the way to do it," Reeds noted.

Older people are wise to stay active, eat well, remain connected to others and take care of themselves both physically and mentally in other ways as well, health and medical experts have long said.Β 

WWII veteran turns 100, reveals the secrets of a long, healthy life

27 January 2025 at 11:45

A man who served in World War II as an airman recently turned 100 years old β€” and celebrated in style with two different birthday parties.Β 

He also said the smartphone has been one of the most significant inventions in his lifetime β€” plus shared his tips for living a long and healthy life.Β 

John Fife, who lives in Clevedon, in North Somerset in the U.K., turned 100 on Dec. 26, 2024, news agency SWNS reported.

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He celebrated first with family and friends at a hotel β€” and second with friends and neighbors in the lounge at Coleridge Court, a McCarthy Stone Retiring Living development, as SWNS noted.

He said, "I feel very fortunate that I still enjoy good health and am able to get out and about."

Born and educated in Edinburgh, Fife said he was called up for national service with the Royal Air Force in 1943.Β 

He trained as a wireless operator and air gunner in the RAF, SWNS said.Β 

He then served with Coastal Command Air/Sea Rescue until he was demobilized in 1946.

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After leaving the military, Fife got married and started a career in the civil service with the Post Office Savings Bank in two different locations.

He, his wife and their two sons moved to Glasgow in 1966 where, following the separation of the Savings Bank from the Post Office, he worked on setting up a new headquarters for the Savings Bank, known today in the U.K. as National Savings & Investments, the same source noted.

During this time, he received special recognition for his services.

"In 1970, I was presented to Queen Elizabeth II on her visit to the headquarters of the new Department," Fife said, as SNWS reported.

He retired from the Civil Service in 1984 and moved to Clevedon to be nearer his sons.

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So how does he keep active even today?Β 

"I start each day with a fixed goal, such as a long walk or going to church, and I love completing jigsaws," he said, as SWNS reported.

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He said he's also "made new friends and started new activities since moving to Coleridge Court in 2022."

When asked for his secrets of living a long life, Fife was quite clear.

"Make a decision to do things and carry them out and do what you can to help the less fortunate," he said.

He said medical advances throughout his years on Earth have been extraordinary β€” and also named the smartphone as probably the most significant development he's witnessed in his 100 years.

Words and game of Scrabble keep married couple in wedded bliss for decades

10 January 2025 at 09:16

A married couple who have long enjoyed the game of Scrabble both together and separately before they even met are never at a loss for words β€” and attribute their wedded bliss in part to their love of the nostalgic game.

They're still playing in tournaments built around the game decades after they began doing so.

Graham Harding and his wife Helen Harding, both in their 60s, have been married for over 20 years.

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They met in the 1990s at Scrabble tournaments, as news agency SWNS reported.

But it was a "special match" in 2000 that brought the couple together β€” and has kept them together now.

Graham Harding is from the East Berkshire Scrabble Club, while his wife Helen is from the Leicester Scrabble Club in the U.K.

They have been taking part in the UK Open Scrabble Championship in Reading this week.

"Scrabble is all about having a good vocabulary," said Graham Harding, SWNS noted.

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"But it is a Scrabble vocabulary β€” not necessarily everyday English."

Added Helen Harding, "The more words you know, the more ammunition you've got."

The couple said they were "vague acquaintances" for about five years after they first met.

Then they got together after a special match in Swindon.

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They maintained a long-distance relationship before they got married in 2004.

The couple even brought their Scrabble board to their wedding.Β 

It featured a message with Scrabble pieces that said, "Congratulations on your wedding day" β€” while their wedding cake said, in Scrabble letters, "Helen and Graham."

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They each took up the hobby early in life well before they met each other.Β 

The tournament that's been taking place this week is the first since the COVID pandemic after a five-year break β€” and the couple has played some two dozen games in it as of Friday, SWNS reported.Β 

Jimmy Carter spent nearly 2 years in hospice care before his death at 100

29 December 2024 at 16:53

Jimmy Carter, the 39th president of the United States who died at the age of 100 on Sunday, Dec. 29, 2024, had been living in hospice care at his home since Feb. 2023.

Back in May, Carter's son, Jason Carter, said in a speech at the Carter Center in Georgia that his grandfather was "doing OK."

Jason Carter also praised the "outpouring of love" the Carter family received since the passing of the former first lady Rosalynn Carter in Nov. 2023.

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"He has been in hospice … for almost a year and a half now, and he really is, I think, coming to the end," Jason Carter said at the time.

"I’ve said before, there’s a part of this faith journey that is so important to him, and there’s a part of that faith journey that you only can live at the very end, and I think he has been there in that space," the grandson also said.

Carter had experienced multiple health issues in recent years.

Following liver surgery to remove a mass in 2015, the former president was diagnosed with melanoma, which had spread to multiple areas of his brain, according to reports.

After surgery and several months of treatment with radiation and immunotherapy, Carter’s cancer cleared.

Carter had since experienced a bout of dehydration and several falls that led to a broken hip, pelvic fracture and other injuries, per reports.

Carter’s wife of 77 years, Rosalynn Carter, also entered hospice in Nov. 2023 alongside her husband. She died just a few days later at the age of 96.

Some experts have praised the Carter family for sharing the details of the couple’s journey through aging, hospice care and death.

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"It’s been massive to have the Carters be so public," said Angela Novas, chief medical officer for the Hospice Foundation of America in Washington, D.C., according to an Associated Press report.Β 

"It has shed hospice in a new light, and it’s raised questions" for people to learn more, she added.

"Hospice is health care for people who are dying," Dr. Harold Braswell, associate professor of Health Care Ethics at St. Louis University and author of several books related to end-of-life issues, told Fox News Digital in November.

This type of medical care is "interdisciplinary," the doctor noted, including a mix of medical, psychosocial and spiritual support.Β 

It also includes assistance with day-to-day activities.

Hospice care focuses on managing symptoms and making patients as comfortable as possible rather than administering treatment for a disease or ailment.

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A person becomes eligible for hospice after receiving a medical diagnosis with six months or less to live, according to Braswell.

"Hospice is not curative care," said Braswell. "It is not oriented toward curing a patient's medical condition β€” and qualifying for hospice generally requires that a patient abandon curative interventions such as chemotherapy."

Hospice is also not seen as a replacement for nursing home care or other residential care, and is not intended to "hasten death," according to the Hospice Foundation of America (HFA)’s website.

It also does not encompass 24/7 care, the HFA noted. Instead, hospice team members generally visit the patient and family caregivers as needed.

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Most U.S. hospice patients receive care in an outpatient setting, such as their private home, a nursing home or a long-term care facility, Braswell told Fox News Digital.Β 

"Some hospices β€” a relatively small number β€” offer inpatient care, though this is only for a very short amount of time, generally for people who are actively dying," Braswell said.

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