Vote for the nation's most Colourful Character!

11 July 2016

Help us choose a national winner! 

Arlene Phillips has helped us shortlist 9 of the country's most Colourful Characters and we need your help to decide a national winner! These 'Colourful Characters' are people aged over 60 who are living life to the full, redefining retirement and doing anything but acting their age! The winner will receive a holiday of a lifetime for 2 courtesy of Saga holidays, so who do YOU think should win?

Meet the candidates

Dana Power

Dana took up running at the age of 55 after watching the Great North Run on TV. Since then, he has run in over 44 half marathons, and recently completed his 11th full marathon in London dressed as Puff the Asthma Dragon, the official mascot for Asthma UK. The costume was almost 8ft tall so it was definitely no mean feat! Dana has raised over £21,000 for the charity to date and he doesn't plan on stopping any time soon. Last year, at the age of 60, Dana took also part in his first charity boxing match for Cancer Research. Winning on points, Dana has now retired from boxing undefeated. 

Beti Williams

At 81, Beti still teaches maths at the International College of Wales three days a week, and even has her own YouTube channel, ‘Beti Maths’, where she posts a number of videos aimed at GCSE students. She wears colourful, bright clothes and also loves swimming and exercising in the pool. Her dream is to return to Bermuda – she first visited a few years ago, where she swam in the most beautiful tropical sea and loved the way the houses were painted in bright colours.  When she returned home she painted her house purple, resulting in some of her international students giving her the nickname ‘Miss Purple’! Beti has taken part in the Masters Swimming Championships and has been a winner on numerous occasions in the over 70s age group, and also went on a fitness boot camp holiday to Lanzarote.

Sue Ash

When Sue turned 80 she completed her first ever sky dive and says she would do it again in a heartbeat. After losing her husband a year ago, she decided that she needed to stay active and busy, and was determined to get out every day. Now, she goes to the gym and swims at least three times a week. For Sue, going to the gym is about staying fit and active, but also having fun and making friends. She recently took part in a sponsored swim, completing 100 lengths in one go and raising £795 for charity – not bad for an 80 year old!

Ken McKay

Ken won Scotland’s Sport Personality of the Year at the age of 84. Sport has been a massive influence his entire life and continues to be a huge part of his retirement. Ken has over 480 national and international gold medals and until a couple of years ago, was a Master’s swimmer competing with swimmers of all ages and abilities, and travelling over the world. At 86 he goes to his local swimming baths three times a week and swims up to 40 lengths each session. He says he entered sports for fun, fitness and friendship and thinks this is what keeps him young. That, and going to the pub for a drink with friends! Ken's motto is: "You can’t change growing old, but you can delay growing up!”

David Lindsey

David retired two years ago, but rather than slow down, he says he is busier than ever. Athletics has been a huge part of his life ever since his children got involved at a young age. He still has time keeping duties which takes him all over the UK – he was in Glasgow earlier this year for the athletic championships. David helps out at the local athletic clubs and is really involved with the local community. He has recently taken up cycling which he does around three times a week. He definitely likes to keep fit – he says it’s the key to staying young. 

Susan Bathurst

Having watched her husband spend the last five years of his life enduring the effects of increasingly debilitating strokes, Sue decided to ‘go for it’. In the past six years she has ridden across numerous countries including the Thar Desert in Rajasthan; northern Mongolia to visit the Tsaatan (reindeer) people; across the Andes from Argentina to Chile; and across the Romanian Carpathians, on the Georgian border with Chechnya and Dagestan and in Cuba. She was also on the first ever horse trek in Bhutan and will ride in the Tien Shan mountains in Kyrgyzstan for the third time this August. To finance her travels she runs a boutique B&B. She writes, takes many photographs and in 2015 was a winner of the Bradt Travel Guides competition ‘To Oldly Go’. Susan's mother died when she was 47 – she says she owes it to her to make the most of life.

Frank Williams

Frank recently completed a post-intermediate course in Italian at the University of Manchester, having studied Italian for many years. With his wife Margaret, he likes to walk every week and together have completed treks including the Edale Skyline in Derbyshire which is 24 miles long. For the last 20 years Frank has practiced Buddhism which he says has made him a better person, and taught him to try new things. Frank heads to the gym twice a week and is a passionate painter with a particular interest in life drawings. Frank spends a lot of time with retired people of a similar age and his motto is: "you don’t give up because you’re growing old, you grow old because you’re giving up." He hopes to inspire people to try something new and maintain a creative approach to life, no matter their age. 

Lynda McLean

Lynda recently finished chemotherapy for bowel cancer, having already overcome breast cancer 5 years ago. Now in remission, and also a full-time carer to her disabled husband, Lynda strives to live every day like her last.She is a very active person, belonging to a cycling club as well as square dancing a couple of times a week. She loves socialising and never turns down an invitation for fear of missing out. Before the chemotherapy, a 40-mile bike ride was nothing to her and she decided to try a host of new hobbies, including scuba diving on the Great Barrier reef, white water rafting, and a hot air balloon ride. She hopes to go to Vietnam next year to complete a sky-dive. Lynda says life is all about experiences and making the most of every moment because life is too short!

Tom Munt

Tom has been an Association Football referee since passing his exam in 1953, and still spends most Saturdays as a referee assessor. He regularly goes jogging and for 5 mile walks with his daughter. Tom recently took part in a charity event, cycling 15 miles to raise money for WheelPower.  In 2001, he took part in the London Marathon and has set himself a target of doing it again by the time he is 90! Tom was a Games Maker for both the Olympics and Paralympics when he was 79, and in the past few years has appeared on the Weakest Link and Deal or No Deal. His motto for life is: ‘Get involved’. 

The vote to crown the nation's most Colourful Character has finished!

The voting for the Colourful Characters competition has now closed, and all the votes have been counted and verified.

We are thrilled to announce the winner as Beti Williams, 81 from Swansea.

We would like to thank all of our finalists for entering and to everyone who voted for them.

The total votes are based on the combined number of entries received via the FreePost address and McCarthy and Stone Facebook page. People could vote multiple times for their chosen finalist up until the entry deadline, and all eligible votes have been counted and verified. For a breakdown of the individual results for each finalist, please see below: