A hilarious calendar produced by a Victorian aged care facility to raise funds for an upgrade to their communal minibus has proved a huge success since its publication at the end of last year.
The Hepburn House aged care facility at Daylesford, Victoria released the 2023 “Ageing Disgracefully” calendar, showing thirteen residents posing in various cheeky and comical photoshoots.
Facility Manager, Dianne Jones, said 1,200 calendars had been sold so far with another 500 to be printed in February.
The money raised is earmarked to go towards upgrading the facility’s communal minibus to make it more comfortable for residents to travel.
“Every six weeks, we hold a meeting and residents suggest places they’d like to go and that’s how the destinations are chosen,” Ms Jones told the Herald Sun.
“We think we may even be able to get a second bus which would mean more residents could go on the outings.”
Last year, as aged care facilities still faced COVID-19 lockdowns and rules, the Hepburn House residents were ready to have a laugh and get creative.
Staged scenes such as being thrown in a police car, getting tattooed and partying are just a few of the photos featured in the calendar.
Photographer David White shot the photos over a year to work around COVID-19 restrictions without charge and helped come up with the ideas for the calendar.
He said residents had some pent-up frustration after a three-week lockdown last year and behaved spontaneously because they were ready to release some “creative energy”.
“No one has been allowed into nursing homes for two or three years, those people have missed out on a lot of contact,” Mr White told Daily Mail Australia.
“I knew they’d be really into it and they were up for it. It was a lot of fun.”
Resident Amy Burow, 103, will feature in the calendar, dressed up in a fur coat and tiara behind a birthday cake.
She told ABC that her friends were keen to purchase copies of the calendar.
“I think everyone [is] so excited about it,” Ms Burow said.
The Ageing Disgracefully calendar is the second one produced by Hepburn House, with the first published in 2020 to raise funds for bushfire relief for the Black Summer bushfires.
To buy a copy of the 2023 Ageing Disgracefully, visit the Hepburn House website.
