As we head towards the end of the year, it’s a good time to look back on our highlights and the challenges we have faced, as well as to look forward to 2025.
My overwhelming feeling about 2024 has been appreciation of the incredible hard work that’s being done in support of older people facing real challenges. Last week, I was at Age UK Oldham, meeting some of the participants of the Men in Sheds group there, as well as members of other community groups, where attendees were taking part in Christmas games. Staff, volunteers and people who use our services told me about the resilience they managed to find in a state of adversity.
Like Mike* who started at Men in Sheds after his wife died. He had no one to turn to but saw an ad in his local GP surgery advertising the service and thought he’d go along. He told me that for two years, these men were the only people he saw every week. Slowly his confidence grew, and now he’s a volunteer “buddy”, welcoming new members.
And at a staff level, I talked to Joan. Her skill when she’s out and about as an in-person befriending volunteer is her ability to spot an empty fridge, or the need for an extra grab rail in the homes she visits. We know these simple things reduce the chance of malnutrition or the likelihood of a fall.