What do older people want to do?

Please note: this post is 134 months old and The Cares Family is no longer operational. This post is shared for information only

Many of the older people our volunteers spend time with are wonderful, creative, sparky types - full of ideas and enthusiasm. Others are a little less confident and on the edge of isolation: they need plenty of encouragement to get out of the house and spend time with others.

Either way, it's important that local community groups like North London Cares always listen to the people we work with. We need to know what our older neighbours want from our volunteer network - when they'd like us to host activities, the types of activities they enjoy and gain most from - and the times that would suit them best to help keep the days lively and the company flowing.

We're currently working on a programme to take our activities - and you, our volunteers - to the lovely members of the Kentish Town Community Centre. So yesterday we ran a little session to ask our older neighbours what they wanted us to do with that programme.

The response was great. Our older neighbours in Kentish Town are really enthusiastic about Saturday "games afternoons", pysical activities like ping pong, singing clubs, more film nights, and lots more interactive activities with "the really lovely young people" that some had already met through our other programmes.