How Silver Sunday helps older people
According to Age UK, 12% of older people never leave their home for a social event. While there are multiple reasons for this, including health and mobility issues, social anxiety and lack of transport among the most common reasons.
Most Silver Sunday activities therefore include a social element of some kind, such as a film screening with a coffee meet-up afterwards, to give guests a chance to make new friends. All events are also free or low-cost, to help remove any financial barriers that might discourage an older person from going along.
I have been lucky enough to go along to a behind-the-scenes tour of Lord’s Cricket Ground, a screening with Dame Joanna Lumley, a lively Bollywood dance workshop, and a particularly memorable day at the Mexican Embassy involving a lively conga led by the Ambassador’s fabulous 90-year-old mother.
Silver Sunday is also much more than ‘just one day’. ‘Silver Salisbury’ is a perfect example: a programme of more than 100 free activities for older people across Wiltshire, previously held in October but running all year round as of this year. Age UK Barnet’s ‘Silver Week’ has also been impactful – working with Barnet Council and more than 30 other groups and organisations, their Silver Sunday event in 2023 welcomed more than 600 older people for a day of music and dancing, workshops and advice sharing.
The diversity of these events is a big part of Silver Sunday’s appeal. A key benefit of Silver Sunday is that it can be a first step to reintegrating for older people who have become disconnected from their communities. Guests often tell us that they never knew that a particular group existed, despite it being on their doorstep, or assumed it was only aimed at younger audiences or families.