Wenda and Mary were sisters living in the seaside town of Bude in Cornwall when their mother, Ida, encouraged the pair to take up dancing. Dancing, exercise and performing on stage became a lifelong passion for the pair which continued when they and their families settled in WA and Wenda went on to set up the seniors exercise class Prime Movers.
“My sister had started doing exercise classes for seniors in England,” Mary French tells Have a Go News, “and my mother played the piano. My sister and our mother started these classes which became very popular.
“Then husband Brian and I moved to Singapore for Brian’s work and Wenda later joined us. She met her future husband, Denis Packard, from Perth, married and had three children, and we all eventually ended up here. Wenda had always enjoyed exercising and that’s how Prime Movers started.”
Prime Movers, with the help of Annette Barrow and Alice Cummings, was established in 1986 after Wenda, patron and founder, completed a course as part of the Ministry of Sport and Recreation Have a Go program for over 50s. In 2018 she was awarded the prestigious Order of Australia medal for service to aged care in WA.
Today, more than 60 Prime Movers classes are held weekly throughout the metropolitan area from Mandurah to Quinns Rock. Membership is around 3000, being mostly women but men are encouraged to join. The hour-long class, set to music, is unique to WA with a small $5 fee per class, visitors $6 and $20 annual membership.
Mary French, now 93, whose husband Brian, 94, was a long-term columnist for Have a Go News and the inaugural president of the Seniors Recreation Council, was also involved in Prime Movers as an instructor and participant until recently.
The couple live independently and Mary still drives. Mary and Brian were instrumental in the uptake of promotion of Active Ageing in WA.
Sister Wenda, now in ill health, started Prime Movers in a church hall and, with tireless energy, gathered a small number of kindred spirits to advertise her Exercise to Music for seniors classes by promoting them in shopping centres throughout Perth with demonstrations.
Early progress was slow and it was clear more instructors were necessary so Wenda devised a course for new instructors and classes grew. In 1988, at Have a Go Day, Wenda led the crowd to exercise to music.
The name Prime Movers was officially born in 1989 and approved as an incorporated body by the necessary government departments.
Mary French says that she and Wenda’s extensive dancing experience meant putting music together, keeping in time to music and working out routines was second nature to them.
“When people listen to music and stay with the beat it makes them keep their body moving.
“I ran classes and served a term as president but Wenda was the instigator and the one who would work out routines. I enjoyed being on stage because my sister and I were actors in our day and so we revelled in the stage work.
“People absolutely adore the classes; I had about 90 people in mine. They are unhappy when we break for Christmas as they miss it so much. Also, it is a way the girls can meet several times a week, make friends and have a coffee together afterwards.
“Prime Movers can take over your life, I used to think I can’t go elsewhere on a Thursday because I have my class. It’s been wonderful.”
