The Don’t Call Me Old project saw Armley Helping Hands take steps to expand the age range of their engaged members. They hoped this would have benefits both for some younger older people who could engage with them if they offered a wider range of activities, and for their older members who might gain extra support.

Read the Don’t Call Me Old end of project report

The project worked well supporting older people in the 50-70 age group and those younger older members were indeed able to help out. It did prove to be more complex than they had anticipated, but was well worth the effort as thanks to the Covid pandemic the younger older members were in fact absolutely necessary as older volunteers were asked to step down.

To find out more about how they got it to work and the challenges they encountered on the way you can read the end of project report Don’t Call Me Old: working with younger older people. It’s also worth having a look at another Time to Shine report, Working with younger older people .

Jessica Duffy
Good Practice Mentor