Age UK grant will help older people get online

Posted: 16th October 2017

Older people who have never learned to use the internet will be helped online thanks to a £66,000 grant to Age UK Leicester Shire & Rutland.

This grant will help Age UK recruit at least twenty “Digital Champions” to teach 2,000 older people to use communication tools like email, Skype and FaceTime; skills which younger people take for granted.

Digital Champions Project

The Digital Champions project aims to help older people to access online information on everything from benefits to bus timetables. With many services becoming digital by default, people who are not online face more hurdles in their daily lives to access both private and public sector services. There will also be an emphasis on online safety, and protection from viruses and fraud.

The project is supporting older people across  Leicestershire and Rutland with a focus on people in rural areas. It aims to combat loneliness by helping these budding “silver surfers” to keep in touch with family and friends online.

Age UK Leicester Shire & Rutland’s Digital Champions will be holding up to four sessions a week across Leicestershire and Rutland. Sessions for groups of around 15 people will be held in libraries, village halls and residential homes. One to one lessons will also be available.

Tony Donovan, Executive Director at Age UK Leicester Shire & Rutland said:

“We are very grateful to Leicestershire and Rutland Freemasons for their generous grant which will improve the quality of life for thousands of older people. More than four million older people nationally have never used the internet and we need to help them to benefit from all the advantages of a digital world that most of us take for granted.”

Leicestershire and Rutland Freemason, David Hagger said:

“We are very pleased to be able to support Age UK’s Digital Champions. As well as fighting loneliness and depression, getting older people online has great practical benefits. A household without internet access is on average £650 a year worse off.”

About Age UK Leicester Shire & Rutland

Age UK Leicester Shire & Rutland is an independent, local charity with a national name. The charity raises funds locally to support local older people with information, advice, services and support.

Age UK Leicester Shire & Rutland offers a wide range of services for older people with physical frailty, impaired mobility, mental health issues such as dementia and learning disabilities and for those who are at risk of social isolation, loneliness, fuel poverty or financial abuse. Many services are free at the point of delivery.




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Contact the Elderly grant will help fund tea parties for older people

Posted: 10th August 2017

Isolated and lonely elderly people across Kent and the rest of the UK are being invited to a series of monthly Sunday afternoon tea parties with Contact the Elderly, thanks to our recent £75,000 grant.

Contact the Elderly is dedicated to tackling loneliness and social isolation among older people. Supported by a network of volunteers, the charity organises monthly Sunday afternoon tea parties for small groups of older people, aged 75 and over, who live alone.

Each older guest is collected from their home by a volunteer driver and is taken to a volunteer host’s home, where they join a small group for tea and companionship. The tea parties bring people of all ages together, develop fulfilling friendships and support networks, and give everyone involved something to look forward to each month.

This grant will play an essential role in long-term funding for Contact the Elderly’s National Support Officer, who helps run 55 of the charity’s tea parties benefitting around 450 older guests, as well as coordinating over 700 of the charity’s 10,000 volunteers who help make the tea parties happen every month.

The need for action to help isolated elderly people is clear from recent statistics showing that a million older people have not spoken to anyone in the last month. There is also mounting evidence about the effect of loneliness on mental and physical health and wellbeing, with lonely people having a 64 per cent increased risk of developing dementia.

Cliff Rich, Acting CEO at Contact the Elderly, said:

“We are incredibly grateful to West Kent Freemasons for their generous grant which will continue to help us to reach more lonely and isolated elderly people. The act of attending a tea party is simple but profound and can make an enormous difference to someone who might not have spoken to anyone for weeks.”

West Kent Freemason, Mark Estaugh, visited the charity to find out more:

“We are very pleased to be able to support Contact the Elderly with their wonderful work helping some of the most vulnerable people in our community. The isolation of elderly people is a very serious problem that’s set to get much worse as our whole population ages.”

Get in touch with Contact the Elderly

Local residents interested in attending Contact the Elderly’s tea parties as an older guest, referring potential guests, or volunteering to help, can contact the charity’s National Office on Freephone 0800 716543




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