Age Friendly Laois manager in new TV show
Laois Age Friendly programme manager Tom Curran is among those featured in the new documentary. Photo: TG4
A NEW television show that celebrates older people will feature a Laois Co Council official, who helps seniors to lead active and fulfilling lives whatever their age.
Tom Curran (Tomás Ó Cuireáin), the council’s Laois Age Friendly programme manager, organises the award-winning annual health and wellbeing Live Well Expo in Portlaoise, which attracts more than 2,000 people each year.
Based in the council’s community section, he leads a programme that aims to make the county ‘a great place to grow old’ with initiatives that ‘support, value and include’ older people.
Tom is among those featured in the new TG4 documentary (The Colour of Autumn), which focuses on a set of extraordinary seniors living life to the fullest. The show will air at 9.50pm on TG4 and TG4.ie on Wednesday 20 May.
The visually rich film features a variety of individuals who are defying age stereotypes and embracing life with unwavering vitality and purpose. The film also asks viewers to reconsider what it means to age and to live.
Guided by the 2023-2027 Laois Age Friendly Strategy, Tom works with a range of local community groups to develop and enhance senior services in the county. In the process, he sees the impact that older people have and the role they play as leaders in their communities.
Their incredible contribution is epitomised by Laois Age Friendly Ambassador Anna May McHugh, the National Ploughing Association's indomitable managing director who turns 92 this month.
As well as organising the hugely successful Live Well Expo, which won a national award in 2025, Tom is involved in events and activities that include technology days for seniors and Age Friendly recognition for local amenities.
The 2026 Live Well Expo in the Midlands Park Hotel, Portlaoise featured more than 100 exhibition stands, interactive activities, health checks and expert talks on issues affecting older people.
Tom’s experience is explored in , which captures the essence of later life through the stories of older adults who cycle, dance, sing, drum and work with passion.
Others joining Tom in the film include Bridie Fitzgerald from Kerry, who still runs a B&B at the age of 80; Tom Weymes from Sandymount, Co Dublin, who cycles up to 150km a week at the remarkable age of 84, and Deirdre Fitzgerald from Bray, Co Wicklow who founded Moving Skirts, a dance group designed to encourage older women to use dance as a joyful form of exercise.
Produced by Red Pepper Productions, the show is described by the programme makers as ‘a powerful tribute to the richness of experience’ adding: ‘With tenderness and authenticity, it explores the joys, sorrows, and personal triumphs of its contributors, revealing how a lifetime of wisdom has shaped the way they move through the world today.’
