John and Meryl McEwen need to keep their fitness levels up to cope with their busy lifestyles. 

“Retirement – what’s that?” quips John, 79, who with his wife, Meryl, 78, attends the Wellness Centre and AgeWell Gym at the Uniting AgeWell Community Hub Burwood East every week for a good workout. 

The Blackburn couple are in good health, and they intend to keep things that way. “We need to!” explains John. “We’re always on the go.” 

John works with the team of Uniting AgeWell Physiotherapists to build up his core strength and muscle mass while Meryl works on her mobility levels.   She does strength as well as balance activities including using various machines and equipment with levels geared to her individual needs. 

They enjoy the bright and airy environment as well as the expert advice and assistance from the helpful AgeWell Gym team. 

“We each have a tailor-made program and every year we each have a review with one of the team where we discuss each exercise and they adjust accordingly. As part of the review, we talk about what exercises we do outside of the gym sessions too.” 

“We enjoy chatting to other gym goers too,” says John.  “Everyone is very friendly.” 

Both John and Meryl are very involved at St Mark’s Anglican Church in Forest Hill. He is the treasurer and coordinates the art group and both volunteer in a variety of ways in helping other parishioners to be involved in the church activities. Meryl is involved with U3A teaching patchwork and also volunteers with the Australian Board of Anglican Relief and Development Fund which provides assistance in disasters and to those in need both in Australia and other parts of the world.  

Their batteries are charged to be set on ‘busy mode’.  They always have been.  John, who is a retired mechanical engineer, and Meryl who was the founding Principal of St Andrews Christian College have lived and worked all over the world. 

John worked as chief engineer at a number of factories producing chocolates – including Cadbury, Rowntree and Nestle – in the Middle East and North Africa as well as in Switzerland. 

During their time overseas Meryl continued to volunteer including commencing a school in Cairo for refugee children from the Sudan, taught adult education classes and studied an ESOL course to help teach others how to speak English.  Between their three children, seven grandchildren and years of being able to sample factory chocolates, they were kept very busy. 

And the million-dollar question.  Their favourite chocolate?  “Dark creamy Swiss chocolate,” both say. 

lTo find out why staying fit and health is so important at any age, listen to episode 6 of The Ageing Ideal podcast, ‘Strong at any age’ available from 20 August 2025.