“In London alone we have hundreds of events yet every year with Westminster, The Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea and Barnet creating full programmes for their older residents as well as those beyond their borough boundaries – catering for a spectrum of interests and abilities from the fully mobile to the house bound.”
Every October, Silver Sunday bursts into life across the UK, bringing colour and joy to older people in our communities. Find out how you can get involved!
In 1969, the psychiatrist Dr. Robert N. Butler coined the term ‘ageism’ to denote the way society denies older people the opportunities to pursue life, to reinvent themselves.
To mark the 50th anniversary of the anti-ageism movement, Age UK London’s Age Allies programme will join Flourishing Lives in the creation of ‘Age/ncy’ – an intergenerational arts installation at TATE Modern that will shatter sedate stereotypes of ageing and older people.
The free event will run from Friday 26th to Sunday 28th April at Tate Modern, in the Tate Exchange area on the Fifth floor of their new Blavatnik building.
“In three high profile speeches when he has been discussing the changing shape of the NHS going forward, Matt Hancock has been keen to support the emergence of ‘social prescribing’, and the growing engagement of the NHS with non-medical treatment which can be shown to improve wellbeing and address the corrosive advance of loneliness and isolation. Building on and developing the NHS collaboration with the creative and cultural sector is a great opportunity to take that forward.”
With social prescribing proving a useful tool to combat isolation and loneliness, the Age of Creativity Festival offers a great chance to engage with the cultural and creative sector – whilst making friends along the way! Age UK’s Mervyn Kohler tells us more…
“Age UK has already been contacted by couples where the younger partner is providing care for the older partner and who are extremely concerned about both the financial loss and their ability to manage the work-seeking requirements whilst also maintaining care for their partner. Age UK has highlighted that this policy could produce the absurd situation where a single pensioner would be better off separating and living apart from their partner, due to the simple fact that Pension Credit for a single person pays more than Universal Credit does to a couple.”
Universal Credit has been prominent in the news lately, but did you know that from 15 May onwards, mixed-age couples will both need to reach State Pension age to claim for Pension Credit? Age UK’s Paul Treloar explains it all…
“Learning about the internet and how to use social media is also a great way to spend time with your family – albeit online. Ask your friends and family for their Instagram handles, then set up a profile and start taking photos. You’ll be joining the ranks of the 25% of Brits over 50 who claim apps make their family lives easier, from organising special occasions to communicating day-to-day.”
All the buzzwords and jargon can make the internet seem a strange and terrifying place to be. Never fear! Hannah Waters explains why the internet is for everyone and offers some top tips for staying safe online.
“…The second challenge is to call out those people who use criticising older people by blaming them, as ammunition in political arguments or just simply to get attention. I used the word “lazy” earlier on because it is true – it is so easy to categorise a group in society and blame them (and to be fair, young people get a rough deal thought this too), and social media tends to magnify these views in a way that has never been possible before. It is easy and lazy to do, but just perpetuates division rather than promoting the positive.”
It seems to be the eternal default position to automatically blame older people for the world’s ills. Our CEO Paul Goulden shows why it shouldn’t be this way.
“Exposure to the cold can have a devastating impact on older people, who are particularly vulnerable to the impact of low temperatures. As people get older it takes longer to warm up which can be bad for health. Breathing in cold air lowers the body temperature, and raises the risk of chest infections, heart attacks and strokes.”
It’s imperative to take steps to protect your self from the cold weather, luckily there are a number of steps you can take to deal with the chill.
This week on the blog, our Administration Volunteer Daphne discusses her Master’s degree in Clinical Neurology and the ways in which volunteering has helped to shape her research. This is an introductory blog ahead of a series of posts on neurology from Daphne.
Following on from Polly Toynbee’s article yesterday, our CEO Paul Goulden challenges the negative stereotyping of older people in the current debate.
The Common Room is a brand new social innovation concept in intergenerational thinking by The Age of No Retirement. It is somewhere where younger and older people can come together in a dynamic space full of inspiration, energy and purpose. It is where human connection, collaboration and the power of “together” thrive. The Common Room enables people to (re)discover their purpose and reach new goals in life, whatever their age. Over the last 12 months The Age of No Retirement has worked hard on this new social innovation. We have collaborated with more than 100 leaders from corporations, non-profits, government agencies, […]
