Hundreds of former southeastern New Brunswick teachers are keeping busy — even in their retirement.

Around 560 of them are currently members of the Greater Moncton Association of Retired Teachers.

The association, which has been around for 50 years, is one of several similar groups for retired teachers across the province.

“It’s to give retired teachers an opportunity to get together and socialize and do activities and stay active,” Norval McConnell, a member of the executive, told our newsroom.

Members pay $60 a year, with two-thirds of that going to the provincial association — the New Brunswick Society of Retired Teachers — and the local association keeps the rest for its activities.

In addition to their monthly activities, McConnell said they also spend a lot of time giving back to the community.

“Volunteering in schools, helping out in particular with the literacy programs and so on, and of course, in today’s world, with the shortage of supply teachers, we have a lot of retired teachers who still supply teach,” he said.

One of the volunteer initiatives they started five years ago is collecting knit mittens for students at schools throughout southeastern New Brunswick.

McConnell told us that a fair number of retirees knit and were looking for something to do with the items that they were knitting.

To date, the association has provided more than 2,300 pairs of mittens to local schools in both the Anglophone East and Francophone South school districts.

“We actually have one retired teacher from the Moncton, Leslie Forbes, who’s knit over 1,000 pair herself,” added McConnell.

McConnell said all teachers are made aware of the association when they retire, adding that it is option for them to join.

“I think the ones that do find it enjoyable. It gets you out of your house, it keeps you busy, it keeps you in touch with people that you worked with.”

With files from Tara Clow