My MIDLIFE CHALLENGE
Bernadette Gledhill, 68, from Huddersfield, and her friends hit on an inspirational way to help midlife women
Looking out over the sea of female faces in front of me, I felt a buzz of pride. More than a year earlier, three friends and I had come up with the idea for this wonderful day during one of our regular meet-ups for coffee.
With decades of experience between us from our jobs in the fashion industry, and with access to hairstylists and beauty experts, Rachel, Christine, Annie and I had decided to organise an event called Find Your Midlife Magic. We wanted it to help women like ourselves navigate their middle years with confidence and glamour.
In particular, we knew middle age could be a time when women start to feel invisible and often put their own needs last. Whether you’re dealing with changing appearance, menopause or caring for ageing relatives, it’s all too easy to think the best of life is over.
I felt I could speak from experience. I’d had a tough time through menopause, suffering a dip in confidence and mood; then I’d navigated a career change, taking the nerve-racking step of returning to modelling in my 60s after years of running fashion events.
We started planning the event, but then I suffered a huge personal loss with the death of my husband, Robert. He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and died just three weeks later, in November 2022, just after our 40th wedding anniversary.
Going through that made me all the more determined to ensure our Midlife Magic event went ahead, because I wanted to share with other women the importance of grasping opportunities and squeezing every ounce of joy out of their lives.
So, with the help of celebrity hairstylists Andrew Barton and Robert Eaton, a John Lewis & Partners stylist, midlife health expert Dr Jane Gilbert and actor Gaynor Faye, the day went ahead last October at a stunning stately home, Goldsborough Hall, near Knaresborough. It was a sellout, with almost 100 women coming to rediscover their midlife magic. In fact, it was such a
