Sizzling at 68, Freda Vaz was born and brought up in Mumbai. She loved to sing and therefore, made a career out of it for a few years. Marriage took her to Saudi Arabia for a while only to return to her motherland Goa thereafter.
Coming back to Goa in 1991, Freda founded the Goa Talent Seekers 1999, a platform to highlight the talents of children through song, dance, musical instruments, the art of magic and compering, right from the primary level upto college.
Through this platform, Freda successfully conducted three talent shows at the Kala Academy to showcase the talent of her students. Not stopping at that, on turning 60, she decided to lead a less stressful life. Having realised that as a senior citizen, there was not much to do by way of entertainment in Goa, she decided to have get-togethers for seniors every six months.
In 2014, Freda organised her first get-together for seniors. It was a grand success. She invited folks from all over Goa to attend the event. This went on till 2018.
The get-togethers became such a hit among the seniors that they urged Freda to have them more often. This resulted in the formation of ‘’The Sizzling Seniors Club.’ Their inaugural event took place on 24th August, 2019. The event was attended by a group of enthusiastic seniors who then began coming together, at least once a month to celebrate life. The main aim of ‘The Sizzling Seniors Club’ is to ensure that all members enjoy a multi-layered evening where they can come together to make new friends and reconnect with old ones; engage in a variety of activities like playing Housie, quiz games, singing, and even dancing with gusto; celebrate birthdays and also win lots of prizes and surprises!
Some of the other activities conducted by the club include jumble sales, pot luck tea-parties, game nights, talks on topics such as Loneliness and First-Aid, and overnight picnics. So far, they have had two overnight picnics and are gearing up for the third one when the weather is more safe for the youngsters at heart. Says Freda, “The level of enthusiasm and excitement that courses through the veins of this club, is purely thanks to its members who are hugely active at events and are ready to participate wholeheartedly in anything and everything. Sometimes, they need to remind themselves that this club is for a group of SENIORS!”.
With members coming from places all over Goa (Moira, Parra, Siolim, Porvorim, Candolim, Thivim and Mapusa) the club has recently changed their event timings from evenings to mornings, to avoid some of the issues faced by the members, especially those who travel long distances by public transport. The Sizzling Seniors Club meets on the last Sunday of every month. They usually begin the day with the celebration of the Eucharist (Catholic Holy Mass), followed by Fellowship and Lunch which is mainly ‘Non-Vegetarian.’ Says Freda, emphasising on the words ‘non-vegetarian’ as the menu includes all types of meats and delicacies that Goans love, “For this reason the membership is ONLY for Catholics. This is not to deter people from joining. All are welcome irrespective of caste, creed and colour except that they should not have a problem with the non-veg menu”, she says.
‘The Sizzling Seniors Club’ shall be celebrating their third anniversary on 28th of August, 2022 and they look forward to new members joining. All those who are interested may WhatsApp Freda on 9923568950. For all you seniors who love to sizzle, look no further, just call Freda!
