Inspiring Communities Together is working in partnership with Greater Manchester Combined Authority to deliver the Ageing in Place Pathfinder – a programme listening to and valuing older people’s voices in the places they live.

 

Pathfinder Partnerships are focused on neighbourhoods where there are clustered populations of residents in mid and later life, in Salford we are focusing on the neighbourhood of Charlestown and Pendleton.

We are exploring an inclusive approach to building and supporting age-friendly community infrastructure with the aim to engage socially isolated local residents and communities to participate and find new ways of supporting and connecting them to improve their health and wellbeing.  We will create a neighbourhood action plan from the findings which can be a future model for other neighbourhoods across Salford.

We are putting older people’s voices and lived experience at the heart. Learning about what they value, the contributions they make and the barriers they experience to ageing well in their local communities. We have three questions at the core of our work:

  • What is it like to live around here?
  • What could make it better?
  • How can we work together?

During 2023, we had initial conversations with 40 older people and completed 21 detailed community audits with older people living in the neighbourhood. We ran consultation events in sheltered housing schemes, local churches, cafes and community centres and at Pendleton Gateway and the Energise Centre. Key findings/concerns included feeling un/safe, managing own health and access to information.

Projects

Following on from the initial findings we ran a group in April 2023 using art as a tool for sharing their feelings about the neighbourhood and to explore the theme of safety.  From this work the idea of an intergenerational project to further explore feelings of safety in relation to their engagement (or lack of) with younger people was born.

In late 2023, we secured a small amount of additional funding through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund “Whose Art, Whose Culture?” which has enabled us to start an intergenerational photo voice project delivered in partnership with Albion High School and Salford Youth Service.  Eight older people and eight young people meet weekly until Easter 2024.  The project is going well and we aim to host a photography exhibition during International Intergenerational Week in April 2024.

Action Planning

The Partnership Board is where local residents and stakeholders come together to co-create the local Ageing in Place Neighbourhood Action Plan. The Partnership Board is responsible for agreeing the local Ageing in Place Action Plan and deciding on priorities.   Our Board is made up of local older residents and key stakeholders from the Council, health, housing providers, the police, arts & culture and others.