I think many of us feel rushed as we head for Christmas, and learning is the last thing on our minds, but the other side if the phenomenon is the feeling we have had a bit of a breather and want to start things afresh in the New Year.

In my magpie fashion I have stolen yet another bright, shiny toy from colleagues in one of the other Ageing Better programmes. It looks like it would be an excellent tool to use either for personal reflection, or in a staff meeting where you want to stimulate discussion or just check on how you are doing.

Whilst I was at the Ageing Better conference in Margate I spoke to someone from one of the Ageing Better Partners who had just been addressing these questions:

• Which participants stopped engaging with your project after starting?
• What were their reasons?
• Are there any trends?
• Why?
• Can your project do anything to minimise this in the future?

They had identified the fact that a lot of people were being recruited but not many seemed to be staying. When they investigated the issue it seemed that some of the groups that people were being directed to turned out to be rather unwelcoming to newcomers. As a result they have been able to change the way groups welcome people in the hope this means more will stay.

If you think this bright, shiny Christmas present might help you to do a bit of a New Year look at where you have got to so far, the summary of learning and insights from Bristol Ageing Better may help you.

Remember, that as Test and Learn projects Time to Shine welcomes any learning this brings up. Just tell us about it, we can share it with other people.

Jessica Duffy
Time to Shine Learning Facilitator
jessica@opforum.org.uk