From the 97-year-old EU campaigner to the 62-year-old Grenfell activist, an older generation is proving that it’s not just young people who can raise their voices

Retirement used to be thought of as a soft slide into a more peaceful life. After a lifetime of hard grind, the daydream went, retirees would gratefully swap the office for a potting shed, a suit for slippers and commuting for a cruise.

But the face of protest has changed. From environmental issues to this week’s protests against Donald Trump, older people are often at the forefront, not just taking to the streets but taking direct, radical action.

It makes perfect sense: many older people are concerned about leaving a better world for their grandchildren. Others feel liberated from fears that their career and CVs could be damaged by political action. Older activists can say what they want and take risks they wouldn’t have dared to when a family, a mortgage and a career relied on them keeping their nose clean.

But the baby boomers, who helped remake society in the 1960s and 70s – through feminism, anti-discrimination battles, the rights of disabled people, equal pay, the climate crisis and the rights of the LGBT community – were always likely to be more passionate about politics and protests than their parents’ generation. Equipped with unprecedented amounts of time, money and motivation – and with longer and healthier lifespans – this new generation of retirees are leading the way.

Moyra Samuels, 62, London

When I woke up at 1.30am on 14 June 2017 and ran over to Grenfell Tower, I had never seen such a horrific and scary thing in my life. I come from South Africa. Apartheid bred violence, and I had seen people stabbed, shot and killed. But this was far, far worse. I stood there and cried and cried and cried.

I’m the project manager for Justice4Grenfell. My job is to build relationships with the trade unions and I work endlessly to get not just the unions to affiliate with us, but other groups, too. I have a lot of anger in my work. Anger can be destructive but I channel mine. I focus it and, when appropriate, I broker peace so that we can move forward to our goals. These are seeing those responsible for Grenfell prosecuted and creating a legacy for the next generation so they won’t be subject to the same regulations, attitudes to housing, racism and anti-immigration feelings.

I came to the UK when I was 23. I was a teacher but, eight years later, in 1987, I joined the Socialist Workers’ party and, since then, have campaigned on all the big issues and local ones, too. Getting older has had a big impact on my campaigning. As an older woman, you lose all that self-consciousness about being seen, about wanting to please people and about fearing authority. That means you can be far more radical, speak truth to power. It also gives you a much more steely determination.

Ageing also means that, as an activist, I have lots of life experience to pull on. I have a broader picture and a more thoughtful approach. But I’m less idealistic. When I was younger, I would probably have refused to talk to, say, a Tory councillor. Now, I know I have to engage.

I’m never shocked – which means I can focus on the fight. I lived through the racism of the 70s and 80s, so I can say that one reason the Grenfell survivors and campaigners are not being listened to is because of racism: it’s because we’re not white. I’m confident to say that because I’ve lived it. I can call it, and I do.

Oliver Baines, 68, St Austell, Cornwall

I took part in Extinction Rebellion’s occupation in Blackfriars last November. It was my first experience of direct action, but I had decided I had to do something dramatic because the environment is in a state of such crisis. When the bridges protest didn’t make any headlines, a few of us decided we needed to do something more attention-grabbing. I was one of those who stripped naked at the door of the public gallery at the House of Commons to delay the police reaching the protesters gluing themselves to the gallery. The police had to escort me out, giving the glue time to dry.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Extinction Rebellion activist Oliver Baines in Truro. Photograph: Peter Flude/The Guardian

I would not have done this when I was younger. I deferred to authority too much. But it’s easy for me now: I have nothing to lose. If they want to put me in jail, they can put me in jail. Because of my age, I feel responsible for being part of a system that has got us to this place of environmental crisis. I also know what a short time there is to do anything about this because I measure it against my own life. Being older helps the protest, too. I think it helps the public empathise when they see mature faces at the front of the protest. We’re harder to dismiss than students.

Harry Schindler, 97, Porto d’Ascoli

Retiring from his job as a trade unionist in London in 1982, Schindler moved to Italy, the country he landed in as a soldier in the British army in 1944. His subsequent effort to identify, for their families, the places where fellow servicemen perished in battle won him an MBE and was made into a film.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Harry Shindler at his MBE award ceremony in 2014. Photograph: British Embassy Rome

I’ve been fighting since before the EU referendum result for justice because the vote was discriminatory and illegal. I, and more than 1 million other British expatriates, were denied a vote because of the 15-year time limit on British expats being able to register as overseas voters.

My age gives me a big advantage: I’ve been up this road before. The fact that I was around in 1933 as Hitler and Germany rose to power means that I can see the analogy between then and now: between this division, between all the political powers and what happened then in Germany.

My age has not had the slightest impact on my brain power. When we get a new government in Britain, I’m going to send my letter again to demand that the promise to give expats a vote made by David Cameron, the Queen and included in the Tory manifesto is finally fulfilled. I’m not giving up on this. There’s no chance of that.”

Wanda Garner, 67, Llanfair PG, Wales

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Wanda Garner. Photograph: David Garner

I was an art teacher and had always been politically aware, but as a teacher you just don’t have any spare time. When Jo Cox was murdered three years ago, that was the starting point. I just thought we should be doing more to bring people together and, by sheer fluke, somebody I knew through my regular choir said they were going to start up a street choir to sing at political gatherings.

It’s called Canwyr Stryd Bangor Street Singers. A group went to London to join the climate crisis demonstration and we did something for the youth climate strike on Bangor High Street at the end of May. Peace is the common thread. I wish I’d done it before, but I’m glad I’m able to do it now. As long as I’ve got breath I’m going to be saying something, to change people’s minds, hopefully.

We don’t want to be strident, but sometimes you need to be. On Monday, a core group of 10 to 20 of us will be singing loud and clear against Trump in Bangor, for about an hour. I think he represents all the worst aspects of our society so I think it’s important to protest against him. We’ll be handing out song sheets so people can join in and sing with us. My husband, David, says he’d rather poke his eyes out than sing, but he’ll come along and hold banners. And he’s good at shouting.

Maxie Hayes, 75, Birmingham

I officially retired 10 years ago, but my phone never stops ringing. My age has made me more effective and focused. I’m also keener to collaborate and look back rather than just running around and looking forward. That means I plan better: I’m not just reactive.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Maxie Hayes, campaigner and coordinator of Labour’s BAME group in Birmingham. Photograph: Andrew Fox/The Guardian

I’m the Birmingham coordinator of the BAME group of the Labour party and I’m chairing their Windrush day of action on 22 June. I’m chair of the Momentum black committee, a member of the Birmingham foster carers association, the Justin Webster campaign, and the Black Activists Rising Against Cuts group. I’m heavily involved in my church and my community. I also help anyone who is in trouble and can’t afford legal fees.

These days I’m less headstrong and I think about my legacy in terms of acting strategically to develop young people. Because my head is not so hot now, I can talk to young people in a lighter way that’s more productive than when I was more radical and just wanted people to do what I wanted them to do. Now I’m more holistic: if I can teach younger people what I know now, they can apply it as they want to as they go through life. I intend to carry on as long as I possibly can – for as long as I see injustice and see how I can help young people.

Elaine Hague, 61, Stoke on Trent

I’m just an ordinary working-class woman. My husband, Terry, and I planned to retire together in 2017 when I was 60 and Terry was 67.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Elaine Hague and her husband, Terry. Photograph: Jonathan Cherry/The Guardian

That was the star in the sky for us. Then, when I was 58, a woman at work said I wouldn’t be able to collect my pension until I was 66. I didn’t think it could be true: I’d received no letter or notification. Terry and I were horrified to discover she was right. I worked on for a bit but the arthritis was making it harder all the time. Then I found the BackTo60 campaign on the computer and realised I wasn’t alone.

I knew nothing of social media. I thought Twitter was for the birds and tablets were what you took for high blood pressure. Now I’m on it all the time, rallying the group, arranging and organising. I write to my MP, I ring radio stations, Terry and I regularly go to London for the rallies. In October 2017, Terry had a heart attack. He’s never been ill a day in his life: it’s the stress of this struggle that caused it. I retired when he got ill but I’m constantly fighting. I should be kicking back and relaxing but instead, I’m ageing and raging.

I wake up angry and I go to bed angry. The government has stolen £50,000 from me in these six years. This fight is being waged by widows, by women with sick husbands and by women with their own failing health. These should be our golden years but we’re having to waste them by fighting for what is rightfully ours.

Rosemary Blenkinsop, 68, Wirksworth, Derbyshire

I experienced my first arrest at an Extinction Rebellion protest at Easter. I was a psychotherapist but now, as an older person with pensions, I am able to support all sorts of excellent innovative environmental projects.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Rosemary Blenkinsop (right), Extinction Rebellion protester. Photograph: Rosemary Blenkinsop

I’ve become highly politicised in my retirement. I’ve done non-violent direct action (NVDA) training, funerals for the future, “die-ins” in city centres, leafletting outside banks and stalls in my local marketplace to spread information.

Preparing for the mass rebellion in London in April was nerve-racking. We set up an affinity group and met in my home to prepare for how the police would behave: would we be kettled, would they bring horses to trample us, would enough other rebels turn out? But, in fact, all went wonderfully well.

I had made the decision at my NVDA training to be an “arrestable”, and three of our group were indeed arrested. I was treated well by the remarkably youthful police constables sent to arrest us. My arresting constable showed me pictures of his baby daughter and we shook hands warmly when he left me in my cell: we had come to respect each other.

I am sure being older helped, although my ageing bones found the bench very hard and I was continually worried about my bad back. I am very happy to carry on putting my liberty on the line for such a great cause.