Jill Shaw Ruddock: the woman who wants getting older to be fun

Melanie McDonagh meets the brains behind the new NHS Second Half Centre for better ageing in Kensington
p20 p21 Portrait of Author Jill Shaw Ruddock at her home in Holland Park. PHOTO MATT WRITTLE . Commissioned for use in the Evening Standard only. For all other publications a fee will be applicable.
MATT WRITTLE
24 January 2013

It wasn’t your average NHS launch. This week’s opening party for Jill Shaw Ruddock’s Second Half Centre for better ageing in Exmoor Street, north Kensington, had champagne from Veuve Clicquot, while the guests included the US Ambassador, Louis Susman, and actress Diana Quick. Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, opened it. Marshalling the guests was Shaw Ruddock herself.

It took her just two years to get the charity off the ground. You know how small people are credited with large reserves of dynamism? You could bear out the theory on the back of Napoleon and Jill Shaw Ruddock. “It’s quite humbling,” she says. “It’s such a bigger programme than I ever imagined. I used to work for an investment bank but that’s a picnic compared to this.”

She’s petite, 57, pretty and married to Sir Paul Ruddock, chairman of Lansdowne Securities. She’s the only American you’ll ever meet who’ll ask you whether she’s talking too fast. The centre is based on the premise of her book, The Second Half of Your Life, which approaches the menopause as a liberating event. Her prescription for ageing is another five-a-day — engagement with community and family; regular exercise; wholesome diet; mental stimulation; purpose in life — and all of it, she says, you can get at the Second Half Centre.

“We can all talk about isolation for older people,” she says, “but to provide a place where people can come — that’s what I think is a solution.” It’s based in the NHS St Charles’ Centre for Health and Wellbeing. “When you think what we spend on dementia ...” she adds, “… well, this place is all about prevention.”

It’s got an extraordinary range of activities, from needlepoint to life-coaching, delivered by experts (the art history teacher is from the Courtauld), plus a café. Classes only cost three or four pounds each and the centre is open Monday to Friday. “This place is open to anyone over 50, and we want people to come.” So far Shaw Ruddock has attracted more than 450 members — but she wants 1,000. And she’s prepared to do anything to get them — she's going to start handing out leaflets at the Tube.

The centre was set up in partnership with the NHS. “They were incredible,” she says. “I used to work with a trading desk but these were the smartest people I have ever dealt with.” So what drives her? She’s well off and could have a lovely time patronising spas. “But I do have a lovely time!” she protests. Was it her Jewish background that inspired the social activism? She shakes her head. “My parents were very isolated when they got older. It was very painful to watch.”

In 1983 she moved to London. “I just loved London,” she says. “I still do.” She’s been married for 21 years to Paul and they have two daughters at university. “He tried to hire me but four years later I married him instead. It’s good. We support each other. He’s the only person I know who makes me look like a slug.”

She’s writing another book — about male ageing. She’s convinced social contact is critical for ageing well. “When people sit at tables by themselves in the café, I’m like, ‘No you don’t. It’s not what we’re about’.” And it works: people mix. “About 35 per cent of our members are men,” she says. “I want our first wedding. Here.”

She wants the centre to be replicated, perhaps 10 of them. My bet is she’ll get her way.

St Charles’ Centre for Health and Wellbeing, Exmoor Street, W10 (020 8962 5500, thesecondhalfcentre.com).

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