Please note: this post is 140 months old and The Cares Family is no longer operational. This post is shared for information only
At North London Cares, we love days like yesterday. Our young professional volunteers hosted three innovative events, from Film Clubs in Community Centres to Knit & Knatter sessions in a local cafe, welcoming 30+ of their older neighbours to activities that provide new social connections, as well as cultural stimulation and understanding.
We're starting to run lots more such new gatherings now, finding out which ones work best and hopefully improving every time.
We've already learned a fair bit about hosting this type of event which is worth sharing:
- Make it accessible. Events should be held in easy-to-reach locations: on high streets; in cafes in the middle of estates; and in other familiar local locations -- to bring people out in confidence.
- Marketing matters. We want lots of people to come to each of our events, and that means getting out there, knocking on doors, speaking to people on the street and inviting them to join in local activities, as well as harnessing digital and traditional news media.
- Mix it up. Running social activities in Community Centres is brilliant, but it adds great variation, as well as supporting local business, to anchor some activities in outside centres of community such as shops, cafes, businesses and parks. Importantly, this also helps older people maintain that connection with the buzz of the "real world".
- Longevity brings success. Running a one off event can be lovely, but the best way to really improve people's lives and help foster relationsships is to offer a constant. That doesn't mean shunning innovation. It means bringing innovation to a regular activity so it always stays fresh.
Over the next few months, as part of our Innovation and Development funding from Camden Council, we'll be thinking and writing more about how we work and sharing little anecdotes and snippets of what we're learning here on the NLC website.
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