Digital history scheme opens up new horizons for isolated older people

16 Nov 2015 03:56 PM

An inspiring social history project to capture precious memories and help those at risk of isolation reconnect with their local community is one of four innovative schemes providing vital support for older people, sharing more than £1.6 million from the Big Lottery Fund.

Bringing people together from different generations and cultures to explore and share the rich history of their communities, Historypin is awarded £545,555 for a pilot heritage project across Norfolk, Tyne and Wear, and Leeds to support local events where older people can meet, share and record precious memories. Combining photographs, documents, sounds and films to trigger memories, the projects will be run by local volunteers who will digitise photos, collect stories and record oral histories to share online.

The project will work with local library and museum services and voluntary organisations. As well as creating more social activities and local networks to help reduce isolation in older people, it will offer digital skills training to link up to stories online and provide offline events, such as presentations along with printed booklets. Historypin will also create a set of digital tools and resources to help expand the project more widely across the country.

Breandán Knowlton, Executive Director said: “Every house, every park, every church and public street echoes with the memories of our families and our friends, and we want to bring some of these meaningful places to life. Working through the indispensable networks of library and museum services is such a rich way to connect with the citizens who know the most about local history - and are willing to share their knowledge with the next generation.”

Dawn Austwick, Chief Executive of the Big Lottery Fund said: “The Big Lottery Fund is delighted to support Historypin’s imaginative use of technology to help older people share their history with others and build social networks.”

Awarded £750,000, Age UK will scale up its integrated care model supporting older people living with long-term conditions and at risk of unplanned hospital admissions. This unique approach brings together the voluntary sector, health and social care organisations to provide a network of support, focussed on the goals the older person identifies as most important to them. The programme is currently being piloted in Cornwall, Portsmouth, Blackburn with Darwen and North Tyneside and will be extended to East Lancashire, Sheffield, Redbridge, Barking and Havering, Guildford, Waverley, Ashford and Canterbury. It will also create new volunteering opportunities and encourage older people to reconnect with their local community services.

Care and support housing charity The Abbeyfield Society receives £264,944 to develop and increase volunteering opportunities for people over 75, including those with dementia and other complex conditions. The 30 month funded project will focus on residents within 20 Abbeyfield Houses in England and Wales. It will measure the impact that volunteering has related to wellbeing and quality of life, alongside sharing good practice examples of the types of volunteering roles that the over 75 age range can, and want, to be involved in. This comes as the latest data from the Cabinet Office shows that 21 per cent of those 75 and over formally volunteer at least once a month.

While The Reading Agency is awarded £50,000 to research and develop proposals for a reading scheme for older people, including those with dementia and their carers, and those concerned about symptoms. The project will test different incentives and approaches to get and keep older people reading, like reading groups, author events and book gifting. The focus will be on supporting those who are vulnerable and at risk of isolation by encouraging them to remain active and engaged through reading with friends, family and wider community networks. The project will be delivered with the support of the Society of Chief Librarians and supported by volunteer reading champions, with plans to expand and develop partnerships with other organisations across the UK.

The grants announced yesterday have been made under the Big Lottery Fund’s Accelerating Ideas programme and are the first to come through the pilot phase which is focussed on projects supporting the challenges presented by an ageing population.

Accelerating Ideas is a new approach to grant-making that aims to move away from a paper-based application process and defined set of outcomes, and encourage groups to talk to the Big Lottery Fund about the issues and priorities they are looking to address. It is looking to support projects that adopt tried and tested approaches across borders, issues and communities, and increase the impact of projects supported by the Big Lottery Fund and other funders.

Notes to Editors

• The latest data from the Cabinet Office’s Community Life Survey shows that the younger old (65-74) make a substantial contribution to our communities with around a third (32 per cent) formally volunteering at least once a month. This number then declines to 21 per cent for the 75 and overs with other survey data showing a further decline amongst the over 80s. This can be found athttps://www.gov.uk/government/collections/community-life-survey
• The Big Lottery Fund supports the aspirations of people who want to make life better for their communities across the UK. We are responsible for giving out 40% of the money raised by the National Lottery for good causes and invest over £650 million a year in projects big and small in health, education, environment and charitable purposes.
• Since June 2004 we have awarded over £8 billion to projects that make a difference to people and communities in need, from early years intervention to commemorative travel funding for World War Two veterans. Since the National Lottery began in 1994, £34 billion has been raised and more than 450,000 grants awarded.
• Historypin brings people together from different generations and cultures to collaborate with their local community to share, explore and document their local history. The project will be delivered by Leeds Library Services, Norfolk County Council Library and Information Services and Tyne & Wear Archives and Museums, supported by Historypin’s community archive platform. Historypin is a not-for-profit and was created by the not-for-profit behaviour change company Shift (www.shiftdesign.org).  For more information visit about.historypin.org.
• Age UK believes everyone should have the opportunity to make the most of later life.  It provides free information, advice and support to over six million people; commercial products and services to over one million customers; and research and campaign on the issues that matter to people in later life. Age UK is a charitable company limited by guarantee and registered in England (registered charity number 1128267 and company number 6825798). For more information visithttp://www.ageuk.org.uk/.
• Established in 1956, the Abbeyfield Society is a charity providing residential care and support to older people. The organisation has 601 homes and houses in the UK and overseas, in which staff and 4,000 volunteers support 8,000 older people living in a family-like atmosphere. The charity’s mission is to enhance the quality of life for older people. The Abbeyfield Society’s values are caring, openness, honesty and respect. For more information visit www.abbeyfield.com.
• The Reading Agency is a leading independent charity whose pioneering work brings the joy of reading to the widest possible audiences across the UK, in partnership with the public library service. The charity’s mission is to create and deliver innovative reading opportunities that inspire more people to read more, encourage them to share their enjoyment of reading with others and celebrate the difference that reading makes to all our lives. The Reading Agency is funded by the Arts Council. For more information visit www.readingagency.org.uk.

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