Friday fish and chips with mushy peas for Betty
Maintaining social connections can be vital for lonely or isolated older people – but rising prices mean that these activities are often the first to be sacrificed.
Thanks to the Cost of Living Response Fund, more than 17,500 older people attended day centre activities such as crafts, digital inclusion, bingo, ‘Knit and Natter’, choir, lunch clubs and warm hubs at local Age UKs.
A self-described ‘people person’, Betty attends her local day centre 3 to 5 times a week. She is taken and dropped home again by minibus, and while at the day centre she enjoys social activities, quizzes and games with friends. On days when she doesn’t attend the day centre, Betty gets up late and goes to bed early, choosing to watch TV in bed to stay warm as she’s found that “the cost of heating has gone up such a lot.”
Betty also really looks forward to a warm lunch at the day centre – her favourite being Friday’s fish and chips with mushy peas. Significant increase in food costs have affected both older people and the local Age UKs supporting them. The Cost of Living Response Fund has helped Age UK Staffordshire continue to provide older people with hot, nutritious meals at a heavily subsidised price. Betty told the day centre team she doesn’t know how they keep their prices so low because “everything is now costing so much.”
Betty and her husband have also been provided with a slow cooker, thanks to a partnership between her local Age UK and the local council. Betty said it will help to keep the cost of bills down as they are cheap to run. She also said that she tells her husband what to put into the cooker and it is amazing that the food is wonderful when it comes out a few hours later.