The loss of a partner or spouse is usually a devastating blow. But it doesn't have to be the end of everything for the person left behind.

For some, it can trigger a new beginning. Bereavement can give you a different perspective on life by showing you that if you keep putting things off for the future, you might never get to do them.

Take 56-year-old Pat Stamp, from Cottingley, for example. After losing her husband Colin not long ago, she's decided to do everything that she wanted to do. She's been intrigued by Nepal ever since the early 1950s when, like the rest of us now in our 50s, she was filled with childhood wonder at the conquest of Everest.

And so Pat and her pal Bridget Ashton are planning for a 100km charity trek through the Himalayas, getting themselves into shape for it by walking around Baildon and Ilkley Moors.

I wish Pat and Bridget all the very best. I envy them their trip, but above all I respect them for having the spirit to take on a challenge which, for earlier generations of middle-aged people, would have been unthinkable.

They're what this new generation of fiftysomethings are all about: going for it, refusing to accept that you should simply sit back and wait to grow old, making the most of their lives because, in the words of a well-worn clich, it's not a dress rehearsal but the real thing - and for one performance only.

That's the message too many of us are still too slow to take on board, as we trundle through the years in anticipation of all those exciting things we plan to do in our retirement while not giving much thought to the statistical reality that some of us aren't going to get there.

The trick is to strike a balance, so we can make the most of the time we're living through now while at the same time hedging our bets by putting enough cash away to provide for a tomorrow which we might, or might not, be around to enjoy.

There have been a few eyebrows raised at the fact that while I wished Terry Wogan happy birthday on this page last week, I made no mention at all of the Queen Mother.

This was not due to any anti-Royalist sentiment on my part, I can assure you. Whatever I might feel about some of the members of the Royal Family, I do hold the Queen Mother in high regard.

The thing is, you see, it wasn't one of those milestone birthdays which come around at the end of each decade. Terry's was, being his 60th. But it was only the Queen Mother's 98th.

I'm saving myself for her 100th!

Bob Monkhouse is one of those show-business stalwarts who never seem to even remotely approach their sell-by date (Max Bygraves is another).

Monkhouse's 70th birthday show last weekend was further evidence that the world of entertainment is one area of work which has nothing to do with ageism.

He's as good now as he's ever been, and probably better, and in recent years has started to appeal to a new generation of fans.

If it works for show-business, why not in other areas of activity where it's too easy to find yourself written off as past it long before you reach 70, 60 or even 50?

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.