- Area:
- South West England
- Release date:
- 26 4 2013
Big Lottery Fund recently launched a £70 million investment in England to help improve the lives of older people, Fulfilling Lives: Ageing Better. The investment aims to improve the lives of vulnerable older people by reducing isolation and helping individuals deal better with change while building their confidence for the future. Read more in the press release
A hundred Local Authority areas where older people are at greatest risk of becoming isolated are being encouraged to bid for funding for projects that engage older people in key decision making and shaping priorities for local action. Bristol, Cornwall, Torbay and Plymouth have been identified as one of these areas and are encouraged to bid for funding.
Live at Home is an organisation based in Cornwall, this project enables older people to retain their independence and remain in their own home, reduce their isolation and loneliness by encouraging social inclusion and improve their physical health and well-being by building confidence and self-esteem through the development of their social skills.
The project is run with the help of volunteers and a small team of staff who undertake a range of support activities to help socially excluded older people, some who are housebound. One of their schemes is a one-to-one befriending service where a volunteer visits a beneficiary in their own home once a week, they may take them shopping or just sit and chat; the older person often looks forward to their visit, for some it might be the only visit they have in a week. The volunteers benefit too; some say that they enjoy listening to their stories of past times and that they get satisfaction from knowing that they have helped someone feel a little bit less lonely.
Diane Bruford, manager of Camborne and Redruth Live at Home Scheme says:
“At Live at Home we are helping to reduce isolation and prevent older people from going into care homes. We often hear that without our schemes some older people just wouldn’t go out, we have one lady who comes to our monthly Sunday lunch and it’s the only time she goes out. The Big Lottery funding has helped us support and reduce isolation in the older person and without the funding we wouldn’t be able to do all the schemes and there’s a possibility we wouldn’t be here.”