The start of 2019 has been a busy one for us at Time To Shine as we welcome four new members to the team either side of Christmas.

We are delighted to have a full staff team at Time to Shine again. Saying goodbye to old friends and colleagues is never easy, but their brilliant groundwork has given us the opportunity to take stock of our progress and further consider the future vision of this fantastic programme.

We are scarily approaching the last two years of the programme and are starting to pull together all of the vast learning from the wonderful projects around the city so far. We are working hard to consider how we can best use this learning to leave a legacy for older people in Leeds, and beyond. We hope that our insight into how to support older people experiencing isolation will help to prevent isolation for others.

We welcome Linda Glew as a new Programme Manager. Linda will be working closely with me and will take a lead on shaping the programme’s legacy. Linda previously managed Home-Start Calderdale and brings a huge amount of experience and enthusiasm to the role.

Rob Cook started before Christmas as Communications Officer. Rob brings long experience of communications at Bramley Elderly Action, and of developing information for older people and in mental health. He will help ensure that we communicate our learning and legacy experiences to the right audiences.

Sarah Prescott and Jude Woods have started as Communities Officers. Each of them brings a wealth of community development experience to this new role, both having worked with older people and marginalised communities. The new Communities project brings together both Dementia and Age Friendly projects and builds on the great work developed by Emily, Maria and the fantastic steering groups. By bringing the two projects together we hope to learn the best from both streams. This approach has been developed internationally, but we have found little evidence in the UK of Age Friendly and Dementia Friendly projects being brought together, so we hope to learn a great deal. Watch this space!

You can read profiles of all the Time to Shine staff.

Hillary Wadsworth
Programme Manager (Learning)