JIM Bryant is a keen advocate for the grey revolution: elderly Scots getting out there and giving it a go – so much so that he’s put himself at the centre of it quite literally.
The 73-year-old had a whirl at the latest thrill-seeking pursuit known as zorbing last year.
The attraction sees participants strapped into a large plastic ball and sent hurtling downhill along a specially prepared track.
He said: “To be honest I cursed all the way down but it was great fun. Once I had committed to doing it then there was no turning back.
“I’ve always been fit playing sport all my life so I was confident in giving it a go. You only live once.”
The grandfather of nine is regularly kept on the go through his role as both cabinet member for economic development with the council and local Dalkeith councillor.
He said: “I’ve a busy schedule with long days at least three times a week and umpteen surgeries but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I’ve never given much consideration to slowing down, I can never see myself as a couch potato at all, watching a football match or that perhaps but I’d much prefer to be out and about.”
A keen sportsman, he played five-a-side football until his late 60s and still regularly plays sport with disabled children in Mayfield Community Centre and Dalkeith Country Park.
He said: “I’m glad that I’m providing a good example to my grandchildren, when I’m with them I can run about a bit and kick a ball. I’m a big believer that if you engage your mind then your body will follow. The mind has an awful lot to do with it.”
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