Lottery funding helps elderly stay independent

The Big Lottery Fund has awarded nearly £450,000 to the Older and Bolder scheme at the Kirkgate Centre in Shipley. The project helps elderly residents in the area who suffer from mobility restrictions and deteriorating health by funding outreach worker visits to the homes, helping them to carry on living independently.

The scheme aims to help people in their 70s, 80s and 90s who live alone or with mobility conditions that leave them reliant on electric stair lifts and other such aids around the home, and runs four different groups which, as a result of the newfound funding, will be able to expand.

"It helps older people remain independent”

The scheme has been running for the past few months on no budget at all and will now be able to expand, rewarding the volunteers who helped keep the service running. Development manager Paul Barrett said of the scheme in this article, “It helps older people remain independent so they're not ending up in care homes, if that's not what they want.”

The scheme helps older people stay active in their own homes which, alongside the assistance of friends, family and aids such as a supportive riser recliner chair, can help them avoid needing to move into a care home. Activities at their centre are wide-ranging, including film sessions, and the scheme has proven to be of great help and comfort to the older Shipley community.

The scheme has been piloted for 18 months previous to this funding and had been running off of the back of volunteers alone, but with the generous donation from lottery funding, the scheme will be able to continue and thrive.

Another success of the scheme is that it does not necessarily have an age focus, as Barratt put it, “We very much wanted it to be the sort of things they wanted to do - rather than 'come along because you're old', we wanted it to be 'come along because it's what you want to do.’”

Image Credit: Lisa Brewster (flickr.com)

This content was written by Emily Bray. Please feel free to visit my Google + profile to read more stories.