Carol Hill and Cecil Downs, named as Bermuda's first `Outstanding Citizens' as part of this year's Heritage celebrations, both agree that "staying alert and active'' is the secret of their youthfulness. (At 72 and 83 respectively, they both appear to be at least 20 years younger).

Indeed, just as their interview with The Royal Gazette was about to get underway, they were busily discussing their computers -- both are basically self-taught, and both confess to spending "a lot of time'' honing their skills.

"I think Windows 95 is great, but I think that Windows 98 is going to be really fantastic,'' beams Mr. Downs. "I first got involved with computers ages ago when I was credit controller for Masters. I knew that computers were the thing of the future and I was determined to be a part of that. And I did! Even my children are amazed at my progress: I started out on a second-hand one and then I bought a new one.'' "When I was teaching, I wasn't sure I really wanted to do a computer course -- I kept making excuses not to,'' confessed Miss Hill."Now I wish I had. I'm an extremist, though -- I sometimes spend all night at the computer.'' On the subject of age, she pronounced: "As far as I'm concerned, I consider that `old age' is 15 years ahead of whatever age I happen to be. So when I'm 100, I shall say that `115' is old.'' "The problem with some people,'' said Mr. Downs, "is that when they retire, they go into a shell. And that kills them.'' Ms Hill, who was the pioneer teacher of speech and drama in Bermuda's Government school system, agreed. "I don't know how I found the time to teach -- I am so busy now.'' Teach she did, however, specialising in speech training and creative drama, theatre, English language and literature for almost 30 years at Prospect Secondary School for Girls. As Grace Rawlins pointed out in her `presentation' speech at the City Hall Recognition Cermemony: "Miss Hill takes great pride in noting that through speech and drama, the students developed admirable levels of self-esteem, self-confidence and self-respect.

"They also experienced a sense of accomplishment and learned the real meaning of responsibility and discipline...factors that equipped them for life outside the school confines.'' Describing her as a "major player'' in the Island's theatre scene, Ms Rawlins noted she was a founding member of the New Theatre Guild, and was active in the BMDS, The Companion Theatre and Studio Theatre, in addition to organising the Arts Council's National Youth Theatre.

Today, she sits on the arts and theatre committee at CedarBridge Academy. She also found time to help found the Festival for the Advancement of Performing Arts and, most importantly, perhaps, she was a prominent activist in the fight against segregation in Bermuda's places of entertainment in the 1950s.

Mr. Downs, who came to Bermuda from his native Dublin in the 1950s, observed that when he visits his son in England, he notices older people there "tend to let their appearance go. They dress in a shabby sort of way -- and that ages them right away! You have to keep up appearances.

"Even if it does take longer and longer each day to acquire the look,'' said Miss Hill. "It's great, though, when my ex-students come up to me and say `Miss Hill, you look just the same'.'' At the Citizens Recognation Day ceremony, Mr. Downs was "proclaimed'' by Jeff Sousa who noted that the recipient had become involved with the Boys Brigade, attached to St. Paul's Church in 1960, soon after he arrived here. His service to the community has centred around his church where he is still a church warden, where he taught Sunday School and served on the committee that built the St. Paul's Christian Education Centre -- an establishment which has become a meeting place for the entire community. He was also chairman of the fundraising committee for the extensive renovations at St. Paul's in 1993. A member of Bermuda's first Youth Council and for many years, he led his Boys Brigade in Commonwealth and, later Heritage Day parades.

Asked how long he had been involved with the Brigade, Mr. Downs replied, "Over 70 years -- I joined when I was a boy of 12 in Dublin, and I've been involved ever since. I owe everything to the Boys Brigade -- it brought me out, helped me to mix with other people. It's a Christian organisation attached to the church, for kids aged six to 17.

"I see many of our former members walking around town. I met one the other day and commented how smart he looked and he told me I was to blame and that I'd always said that anyone who wanted to get a job had to look neat. The Brigade does basic drill and people ask why we do that. The reason is that it teaches discipline -- and if you don't get discipline in the home, it's even more important.'' "Yes, I always emphasised to my students that it was important to speak well and present yourself well,'' agreed Miss Hill. "That's what's lacking today.'' It was in an effort to broaden the outlook of Bermuda's youth that Miss Hill joined with the late Reginald Ming to form the Youth Council. "From that, we launched `Youth on Display', inviting school kids to show their arts and crafts in City Hall, and it turned out to be a great thing.'' Both recipients recognise the value of encouraging young people to express themselves. "It's important that they have a chance of expressing their views, but I wish that the standard of speech was more articulate! The talk shows on the radio are awful -- if there was more emphasis on English and speech training in the primary schools, we wouldn't have this problem. It is one that needs to be addressed and we need more staff to deal with the art of speaking,'' said Miss Hill.

"I am very grateful to Dr. Dorothy Thompson, who was my principal at Prospect. She was so far ahead of her time and was very supportive of what I was trying to do. No one was thinking about things like speech and drama back in the 50s. I had an aunt who had studied elocution in Canada in the early 1900s, but when I applied to the Currency Control Board to take money out of the Country in the 1950s I was told that it was `frivolous'!'' Admitting that for her, "keeping active'' doesn't include walking ("my student used to ask why I was driving from one building to another''), Miss Hill says her days are more "crowded than ever''. Mr. Downs, who walks every day, even runs a debt-collection agency ("when I retired as credit controller of Gibbons, people kept asking me to help out and it just mushroomed'').

And neither of these outstanding citizens observe strict diets. "I eat everything,'' proclaimed Miss Hill and, echoed Mr. Downs: "So do I!''