Age-friendly partnership shows progress on helping people to live well as they get older

A partnership striving to make Cheshire West and Chester a better place for everyone to grow older is showcasing its work online.

The Age-friendly Cheshire West Partnership has launched a new hub on the Live Well Cheshire West website to highlight its projects and encourage more volunteers to join.

Groups are currently working on three main themes, including civic participation and employment, community support and health services and communication and information.

Viv Gee, vice-chair of Age-friendly Cheshire West, said:

“We’ve got a fantastic group of volunteers who are working on our main themes.

“Our employment group has supported events bringing together local employers with jobseekers aged 50 and over to share the barriers and challenges of gaining employment in later life.

“Our health services group is researching the services currently available for older people in the borough.

“Our communication and information group has produced guidelines to give anyone easy steps on how to make information more accessible for older people, as well as reviewing the Live Well Cheshire West website itself.

“We’re always interested to hear from others who would like to get involved and share our determination that our area should be somewhere we can all live life to the full for longer. Please get in touch if you’d like to play your part.”

One of Age-friendly Cheshire West’s first public projects was a series of events in libraries to celebrate International Day of Older Persons.

These gave residents the chance to drop in, socialise over refreshments, look at historic photographs of their area, find out information about benefits, health and wellbeing and also have their say on the future of the borough.

A video of one of the events is available to watch on the partnership’s section of the Live Well Cheshire West website.

Viv said:

“It was lovely to see people coming along, enjoying the social aspect and finding out about the partnership.

“I’m a volunteer and find it a really uplifting group to be a part of.”

Age-friendly Cheshire West is a partnership between the University of Chester, Cheshire West and Chester Council, the NHS, the voluntary sector, businesses and residents.

Cllr Lisa Denson, Cheshire West and Chester Council’s Cabinet Member for A Fairer Future, said:

“None of us is getting any younger so it’s really important to work together in this way to make sure Cheshire West and Chester is the best place for all of us to get older and still have a great life.

“It’s great to see the partnership coming together and starting to make a difference.”

For more information about the partnership and how to get involved visit: 

www.cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk/agefriendly

Pictured - Residents enjoy an event organised by Age-friendly Cheshire West at Hope Farm Library in Ellesmere Port.