RETIRED and getting up to mischief - that's how Jimmy Pascoe describes his efforts to launch the first national Seniors' Day.

Retired chauffeur Jimmy, 68, piloted his idea for a special day for senior citizens in north Oxfordshire two years ago.

Now the day of discounts and special offers for the over 65s -- with Pyrenean mountain dog Ben as its mascot - is set to go countywide on September 9. Jimmy hopes it will one day feature on the national calendar .

"We've got a Mothers' Day and a Fathers' Day so why not a Seniors' Day?" says Jimmy, who lives with his wife Alexandra, in Wardington, near Banbury.

"We're getting support from all directions and I get the feeling that it is really going to take off."

Big names including Tesco and Sainsbury's supported the first Seniors' Day in 1996 by providing discounts of about 10 per cent on goods in particular demand from senior citizens. Emergency services and council chiefs also took the opportunity to run special advice stalls.

Jimmy took last year out last year to "absorb the lessons" of the first Seniors' Day and will return this year with the backing of MPs, local councils and companies from across Oxfordshire. He is chairing a six-man Seniors' Day executive committee, including a solicitor, accountant and treasurer, and has won sponsorship from Morrells brewery, which will supply hundreds of posters for the event.

"There were a few problems last time such as emergency service advice stands sited in the wrong places," says Jimmy. "But it seemed to go very well and we have learned our lessons.

"I remember I was in the Castle Shopping centre in Banbury and a lady in wheelchair came up to me and gave me a kiss. That made it all worthwhile."

He adds: "I have been in touch with several companies and word is getting round the board room. It is obviously good PR for them but we hope it will not just be seen as a way of making money. Wherever seniors see a Seniors' Day poster they know they will be able to get discounts."

Jimmy stresses that the use the word 'seniors' should be used to describe the over 65s - not pensioners, old folk, the elderly, or OAPs.

"Can you imagine a Pensioners' Day?," says Jimmy. "It sounds as if everyone is on a Zimmer frame. It is like those ghastly road signs warning about old people - one of the first things we'd like to do if Seniors' Day goes national is it to try and get rid of that." Jimmy hopes that if Oxfordshire Seniors' Day is successful it could become a national day for senior citizens on the second Wednesday of September from the year 2000.

"I feel I have had a simple idea that has worked," he says.

In Jimmy's case, mischief is clearly not the work of idle hands.

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