Bristol Ageing Better receives £880,000 for unique projects tackling loneliness and isolation
Posted on: 03 Oct 2017Bristol Ageing Better (BAB) has committed £880,000 to commission exciting new initiatives that help older people in the city enjoy a fulfilling later life. The commissioning was released on October 1st 2017 to mark the UN’s International Day of Older Persons. BAB is a partnership of individuals and organisations working together to reduce isolation and loneliness among older people in Bristol.
Therapy-based support and activities, food and nutrition projects and intergenerational work are just some of the projects of nine that have been funded by BAB to focus on reducing social isolation by improving wellbeing, and empowering older people.
Bristol Ageing Better Programme Director Adam Rees said: “Someone might get plenty of social contact but still feel lonely and isolated; at BAB we believe that it’s about ensuring older people have the type and quality of social contact that they want. Different older people have different needs, so the projects we’re focusing on offer the opportunity to reduce loneliness and isolation in a wide range of ways”.
“We’ve called this round of commissioning ‘Building Blocks for Wellbeing’, because we’re looking for projects and services that will connect with others across the BAB programme to build people up. We want to create a foundation of confidence and wellbeing on which to reduce older people’s isolation and loneliness.”
The decision to commission projects such as these, was made following the funding of over 140 projects in the first two years of the programme. Most projects received between £1,000 and £15,000 to trial ideas that worked towards preventing or reducing social isolation and loneliness. This allowed BAB to establish models which worked well and use this learning to inform how money could be best spent in the future.
A common theme established by the pilots was that successful projects often improved people’s wellbeing and confidence. The new projects therefore focus on innovative ways of doing this. The pilots which BAB has previously funded included projects such as inter-generational groups of students and care-home residents working together in Bristol to create art, shared reading groups for people with dementia and telephone counselling services, amongst others.
BAB is a partnership of more than 250 organisations which can deliver effective services and share their knowledge of what works to improve the lives of older people in Bristol. Since 2015, BAB has spent over £1.5 million and committed almost £3 million more to fund pilots and services in a range of areas. The five year project aims to tackle loneliness and isolation in older people, and is part of a larger network of Ageing Better organisations around the UK. Bristol Ageing Better has been made possible thanks to National Lottery players, with funding from the Big Lottery Fund.
For more information please call 0117 9281539 or visit www.bristolageingbetter.org.uk
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Milly is a second year student studying Photography at UWE in Bristol. She's a passionate fashion photographer and blogger; to find out a bit more about her interests, take a look at her photography blog at millyhastingsphotography.weebly.com.
