Our little stag party was never going to be a wild affair but it grew ever-tamer in the planning

It was coming up to 11 o’clock on Saturday night in Soho and the crowds on Greek Street were starting the migration from bars to clubs, forming disorderly queues outside the velvet ropes. But our little stag party was drawing to a sedate close with mutterings about train times and bus connections and early starts in the morning.

It was never going to be a wild affair with but weeks of WhatsApp exchanges saw it grow ever-tamer in the planning, so that instead of spending the afternoon paintballing or at Laser Quest, we went to Sir John Soane’s Museum followed by tea at a hotel.

“Are we too old for stag T-shirts?” someone asked, and everyone agreed that we were.

As we sat down for dinner, we were asked if we had any allergies and like everyone above a certain age, we all said we had none. And over dinner the conversation was of dogs and cats, parents in their 80s and 90s, and retirement plans.

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Two German doctors talked about their pension entitlements, somebody described the joys of a Mediterranean cruise and someone else gave an update on theatres offering a discount to the over-60s. The groom-to-be revealed that a parallel hen party was going on nearby in Covent Garden and suggested we should merge with it.

A grievous breach

We were horrified, telling him it would be a grievous breach of traditional norms and someone said it could be embarrassing if, for example, the hens were being entertained by a stripper.

“I think that’s highly unlikely,” he said, and we had to admit that it was.

It felt good to wish the couple well and to think about them taking such a big step together at a time when many people feel their lives are starting to contract. But as Britain’s population ages with one in four expected to be over 60 by 2040, the experience of ageing is likely to change.

At the Design Museum in Kensington, a display called The Future of Ageing looks at how design can help people to age “with greater agency and joy”. It features prototypes such as the Centaur, a self-balancing, two-wheeled personal electric vehicle that makes supported mobility more flexible.

Sleek enough to glide through standard-sized doorways and to fit under tables and desks, by being more responsive to its user the Centaur aims to enhance the self-esteem of those with limited mobility.

Short, squat and bright red with two narrow, rubber wheels, Gita is a hands-free, cargo-carrying robot that can carry up to 18kg at six miles an hour. Its sensors distinguish between people and objects in daylight and in darkness and it can use visual and spatial information in real time to adapt its behaviour.

Loneliness and isolation

“Communicating intuitively with users through sound, light and touch, Gita has the potential to mitigate loneliness and isolation in older people. Gita helps to boost healthy behaviour by encouraging walking, and to foster more independent and sustainable styles of living in later life,” its designers say.

An interactive feature invites visitors to identify the most frustrating everyday items they would like to redesign from the top 10 chosen in a survey of more than 2,000 people between 55 and 104. Top of the list is food packaging, followed by the duvet cover, the washing machine, child-proof containers and high cupboards.

One of the greatest challenges of ageing can be hearing loss and the display features an app called Hearing Birdsong, an immersive digital audioscape that uses the sound of birdsong to help people engage with changes in their hearing.

In the United States, the AgeTech industry is pushing older people towards the metaverse with VR simulations of travel offered as an alternative to the real thing. In Forbes magazine this week, the chief executive of a VR company suggested that his products could allow older people to form communities, keep fit and stay in touch with family members without ever leaving home.

“If you’ve never seen an older adult react excitedly as they put on a virtual reality headset for the first time, this may all be a surprise. You’re missing out – their reactions are overflowing with joy, frequently to the point of giddiness, as they’re taken into a world that is exceptionally limitless,” he said.

That may be so but the version of ageing on display in the Design Museum is more attractive, helping people to get out into the world and to stay there for as long they can.

The Future of Ageing is at the Design Museum in London (designmuseum.org) until September 25th