Retirement is a turning point in life, and it affects not just one's self-worth, but also marital relationships. In order to help young-olds to adapt to the great life changes and enhance their resilience, YWCA Jockey Club Joyful Marriage Project (“the Project”) was first launched in 2021, aiming to help retired couples to better understand their partners and develop common interests, not letting retirement disrupt a happy marriage. The first batch of participants has completed the Project and recently invited their friends and relatives to witness their achievements and changes in the graduation ceremony, "Reunion in Love".

Having run for two years, the Project has provided different types of workshops and activities for nearly 200 couples, including "Get to Know You More" workshop which used Personality Dimensions to help participants understand their partners from a new perspective and identify the best way to get along with each other.

In the “PEARL Joyful Marriage Courses”, participants joined a variety of activities, such as aromatherapy massage for couples, canoeing experience, floor curling class, acrylic pouring workshop etc. These experience helped couples to create enjoyable moments and develop common interests that benefit their relationship in the long run. Photo shooting sessions were also arranged for the couples and their families. "It was like taking wedding photos when we were both young, yet with more family members than just my partner,” a participant commented.

As the finale of the Project, over 150 people attended "Reunion in Love", a special "wedding banquet" that celebrated participants’ grauduation. The retired couples took turns to showcase their achievements. Some of them demonstrated their teamwork with roliball performance. Others showed the mosaic lamps, paintings and life books, etc. that they worked on during the Project. Apart from the retired couples, their family members and friends were also present to support the participants. One of the children commented that the project had brought her parents closer.

The Project will soon start a round of recruitment. Interested parties are welcome to sign up for the "Talk on Stress Reduction and Happy Marriage for Retired Couples", which will be held at the end of this month, to learn more about the programme and the schedule of different activities.

Talk on Stress Reduction and Happy Marriage for Retired Couples

• Date: Jun 29 2023
• Time: 2:30pm - 4:00pm
• Venue: YWCA Jockey Club Social Service Building (G/F, 5 Man Fuk Road, Waterloo Road Hill, Kowloon)
• Target group: Retired couples aged 55-75
• Application link: https://forms.gle/NUqHK79ZryJf4tbw6