“We fell into it,” says Diane Rowsell, 63, of the community food support project that she and husband David, 64, started in 2020. “It wasn’t like we sat at home thinking: ‘What can we do with our lives now?’”
Pre-retirement they were busy: David’s job as a headteacher allowed them to live in the Czech Republic and the US, where Diane, a physiotherapist by training, also worked teaching music; they travelled extensively and adventurously in their free time. Back home in York, they were looking forward to more travel, plus time on their allotment and with their grandchildren. “Just that era of life – busy doing not much!” says Diane. But it doesn’t sound that quiet when she explains that the couple bought a camper van, David was working as a leadership coach, she was taking art classes, and both were volunteering – Diane gardening and David chairing the local school board of governors.
