Age Friendly Belfast’s Positive Ageing Month programme has been launched, with an array of activities for older people across Belfast.

Positive Ageing Month is an initiative of Belfast City Council and the Belfast Health Development Unit’s Age Friendly Belfast programme. The month aims to offer older people opportunities to enjoy the city, avail of services benefitting older people, and also contribute to planning within Belfast.

Highlights include the Age Friendly Convention at Belfast City Hall on 4th October, Be Prepared events across the city, Tea Dances, falls prevention workshops, iPad and IT training and more.

Engage with Age’s contributions to Positive Ageing Month include the “Festival of Windows” and “My Story and Yours” exhibitions, forum events, dementia training and The Slipped DiscoTM.

To find out more, click https://www.makinglifebettertogether.com/positive-ageing-month-2022/ or email positiveageingmonth@belfastcity.gov.uk or call 07713684705

Engage with Age is delighted to announce that Anna O’Kane is Engage with Age’s Dementia Friendly Artist in Residence.

Anna has had an ongoing association with Engage with Age since 2014, working on the TESA DRI research programme with Ulster University. Anna studied at the Art College at Ulster University and has a BA in Jewellery and Silversmithing and a postgraduate diploma in Art and Design. Anna has over 30 years’ experience working as a Community Artist.

The Dementia Friendly Artist in Residence programme will work with six dementia support facilities to enable people living with dementia to be creative and also experience improved social connections. The programme will also provide training for up to 60 staff, carers and art facilitators, enabling improved interactions with people affected by dementia. The programme will culminate in an exhibition which will be viewed in libraries and centres across Belfast.

For further information contact Engage with Age on 028 9073 5696/ info@engagewithage.org.uk

Engage with Age held its Summer Barbeque on 19th August 2022 at Inverary Community Centre.

Normally this wouldn’t be an event worthy of any notice, however, this was the first time Engage with Age held a large gathering of people since the start of the Covid-19 Pandemic. The company’s ongoing activities have been continuing, albeit on a smaller scale.

Approximately 60 people joined in for some wonderful food from our friends at Arches Café, enjoying company and music. All were “fed and watered”, as they say, while keeping everyone safe.

To stay up to date with Engage with Age’s ongoing activities log on to our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/EngageWithAgeBelfast or call the office on 028 9073 5696.

Engage with Age’s PAL Project has been operating since 2018. EWA recently worked with SP Consulting in Antrim to evaluate the effectiveness of the PAL Project with a view to understanding the benefit of the programme and learning how to support lonely and isolated older people better.

“Finding Their Feet” is the name of the report produced. The report highlights the benefits of peer lead approaches where older people take the lead in formulating activities and running events. The resounding feedback from over 200 people consulted is that the PAL Project has positively improved their health.

One participant said: “What I use to do before was stay at home, looking out the window, doing nothing, staring at the walls, it was terrible, but now my life is really totally different.”

As well as the report, a number of training videos have been produced, featuring the words of volunteer group leaders and interviews with older people. Engage with Age will use these resources to help inform practice and improve future support within the sector.

The report is in the Links section of this website, and you can read the abridged report by clicking this weblink: https://engagewithage.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Finding-Their-Feet-Abridged-Report.pdf

The four training videos are available to view on the following links:

PAL Project:  What is loneliness like?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UdWxcdsPLc

PAL Project:  Working with loneliness
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTxvLY7l0tw

PAL Project:  Getting the welcome right
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6W7iSgVgLI

PAL Project:  Running groups
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ixo2aL0fL9A

Members of the Words Alive creative writing group met Belfast City Council’s Lord Mayor Councillor Kate Nicholl. The Lord Mayor met the group further to opening the Words Alive exhibition “Your Story and Mine” at Ormeau Road Library. This was an opportunity for Words Alive to highlight the importance of the stories of our older people, and for the Lord Mayor to celebrate the achievements of Words Alive in creating such a useful and important record.

Each year Engage with Age distributes warm packs to older people in south and east Belfast to alleviate the impact of cold weather. The packs, which will last for several years, include thermal clothing, house thermometers, and information on keeping homes and rooms warm.

There is a criteria to receive a warm pack which includes older people living in fuel poverty, older people living on their own, and people aged 75 and over. This is not the full criteria list and the number of packs available is limited.

For further information, telephone Engage with Age at 028 9073 5696 or email info@engagewithage.org.uk

It is full steam ahead with Engage with Age’s summer programme 2021. Join us for a mixed programme of crafts, cooking and relaxation. For further information contact Cathy Chambers at cathy.chambers@engagewithage.org.uk or call 07468 695593.

Still not allowed to go out and sing and dance? Let us bring the entertainment to you.

EWA presents “Zoom Karaoke and Sing-a-Long”, a unique singalong event that all happens through the “Zoom” video calling programme on your computer. “Zoom Karaoke” is hosted by local radio star Glen Pavis from Downtown Radio and it promises to be a great night of craic. Join in and listen to your friends sing their hearts out, and get in the spotlight yourself and sing your own favourite song. All from the comfort of your own home.

To find out more and get the Zoom link contact Cathy Chambers on 07468 695593 or by email at cathy.chambers@engagewithagr.org.uk

Join us on Thursdays once a month for Jim’s Pub Quiz. A brain teaser played as individuals (not as teams) brought to you via Zoom. For the Zoom link email eamon.quinn@engagewithage.org.uk or call 07710 993036.

We think everyone will agree that this has been a very strange and difficult year, with many uncertainties and stresses, but also wonderful examples of human spirit and community feeling.

As we move from 2020 into 2021 everyone connected to Engage with Age wishes you a very happy Christmas and also a good new year.

To see us in, here is an excerpt from the Christmassy Virtual Slipped Disco, which was held at the Black Box in Belfast on the 7th December 2020. The Virtual Slipped Disco is an online version of our disco, and because of Covid-19 restrictions it is presented online, live on Zoom and also on Facebook.

Click this link to enjoy our finale from our Christmas event, with our DJs Groover and Rhythm Bandit, presenter Maggie Cronin, our Disco Dinosaurs, the Socially Distanced Dance Group, and our viewers, grooving away at home. Enjoy this clip as we dance away to our anthem for the year, “I Will Survive” by Gloria Gaynor.

Click this link: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?ref=search&v=792387668316398&external_log_id=9a575003-0293-4038-9e2c-55e9a1e7ad30&q=Christmassy%20Virtual%20Slipped%20Disco

Merry Christmas Everyone!