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Happy New Year!
I hope you had a good break over Christmas and New Year!
The first NNS Roundup of 2020 includes:
– Twenty ideas for creating a Britain for all ages
– LGBT Birmingham activities and end of life booklet
Cold weather Information
Cold Weather
It will be some time before spring so it’s worth sharing the cold weather information again.
Public Health England and the NHS issue a Cold Weather Plan. This sets out an expectation that health and social care organisations and voluntary and community sector groups will implement measures to protect people in their care to reduce
cold-related illness and death in those most at risk.
It sets out an expectation that the voluntary and community sector are part of the solution in both ensuring referrals of vulnerable people and due to the wide range of support they offer.
In addition the Keep Warm Keep Well booklet is available and provides some advice.
Arts and Creativity
Arts and Wellbeing
Arts and Creativity is the basis of much activity which has been captured on the asset register and also funded through Ageing Better. This section provides contact details of Arts Forums and information of two events.
Arts Forums
Here’s the list of the Local Arts Forums and contacts in each constituency. The request from the City Council is to ensure LAFs and NNS leads are linked and I’m aware this is already in place in some areas.
| Area | Name | Contact | Forum URL |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Edgbaston |
Artscoop Central |
Tom Jones |
|
|
Erdington |
Active Arts Castle Vale |
Jobe Baker-Sullivan |
|
|
Hall Green |
Art Works |
Ted Ryan |
|
|
Hodge Hill |
Hodge Hill LAF |
Lucy Poulson |
|
|
Ladywood |
Mooville Theatre CIC |
Marlene McKenzie |
|
|
Northfield |
Northfield Arts Forum
|
Joe Todd / Lauren |
|
|
Perry Barr |
Grosvenor Road Studios |
Pauline Bailey |
|
|
Selly Oak |
Selly Oak LAF |
James Kennedy |
|
|
Sutton Coldfield |
Active Arts Castle Vale
|
Jobe Baker-Sullivan |
|
|
Yardley |
Arts in the Yard |
Sylvia Chan |
Arts & Health sector networking event
You're invited to the: ‘Arts, culture and social, health care sector networking event’ at 9.30am to 3pm on 27th February at TouchBase Pears, Selly Oak.
With Sense Arts as event partner and aimed at arts organisations and social care sector workers, this event will continue to encourage arts & health sector partnerships to flourish and introduce funding avenues for cross-sector projects. Attendees will be able to take a tour of the Sense Arts facilities, take part in activity taster sessions and take away a menu of current, accessible arts activity plus a ‘can-do’ approach to applying for funding to integrate arts and health activities.
Lunch and refreshments provided.
Eventbrite link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/arts-culture-and-social-health-care-sector-networking-event-tickets-89049347997
If you have an accessible arts activity running in 2020 and would like to hold a taster session at this event to encourage referral /take up, please contact [email protected]
Please forward the details onto your social/health care contacts to continue to expand on the cross-sector partnership work we instigated in 2018:
Festivals of Creativity in May 2020
The Voluntary Arts Network is holding an event aimed at arts organisations and health organisations who may want to be part of a national celebration of creativity, culture and wellbeing in May 2020.
There will be three festivals, the first of which is specifically aimed at older people:
Age of Creativity: throughout May 2020
Get Creative Festival: 9-17 May 2020
Creativity & Wellbeing Week: 18-24 May 2020
I think it would be great if Birmingham could be involved in the Age of Creativity Festival and use it as an opportunity to showcase some of the creative activity and reach out to new citizens. More information is here.
There are two events on 24 January at BMAG to discuss these and hear more. There is currently a waiting list for both at:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/creative-festivals-midlands-network-information-meeting-registration-85669853839
Twenty ideas for creating a Britain for all ages
Together in the 2020's
United Together suggests that Britain is one of the most age segregated countries in the world. It has been making proposals for the past ten years about how the UK could be fairer for and more inclusive of people of all ages. Twenty proposals are shown below. Which of these inter-generational initiatives could we do at a local level?
LGBT Birmingham activities
Older LGBT Citizens
Maria Hughes at the Ageing Better LGBT Hub sends out a monthly newsletter with all events on. This month it includes dog walking, football matches, karaoke, theatre, walking and a range of support groups. Maria will be coming to our NNS Meetup in April. If you wish to subscribe to the newsletter or talk about LGBT activities in your area then contact her on:
0121 643 0821 or [email protected]
There are three ways to check up on groups and activities supported by the LGBT Ageing Better Hub:
You can find all listed events on the Birmingham LGBT events calendar, HERE
You can access and download a PDF of all the month’s events HERE.
You can find all listed events, alongside events from across the Ageing Better in Birmingham programme HERE.
Getting care and planning for the future
At the end of last year Marie Curie produced a booklet about end of life support for LGBTQ+ citizens.
This booklet explains the care and support that’s available for people living with a terminal illness. It provides information about how you can plan ahead for your care and your practical needs. It includes information that may be particularly useful if you’re LGBTQ+, including telling professionals that you’re LGBTQ+ and how you can choose who you want to be involved in decisions about your care. It can be downloaded below or hard copies ordered.
Multiple Conditions
Multiple Conditions Guidebook
The Taskforce on Multiple Conditions has published a helpful guide with the aim of reducing multiple conditions and helping people to live better with them.
For the Taskforce the term ‘multiple conditions’ relates to people living with two or more chronic health conditions. These are long-term physical and/or mental health conditions that may change over time and require ongoing management and represent a significant challenge. A previous report considered the experiences of living with multiple conditions.
"In England around one in four of us has two or more long-term conditions and this number is growing. We also know that there is a strong link with deprivation. People in more deprived areas develop multiple conditions 10-15 years earlier than in more affluent ones."
Some of the ingredients that work are shown in the infographic above. Further information on the Taskforce is available here and the full report can be downloaded below.
Building Connections Fund
Building Connections Fund
The £11.5 million Building Connections Fund was set up to support projects that are able to prevent or reduce loneliness.It is a partnership between Government, The National Lottery Community Fund and the Co-op Foundation They have produced some learning from the first year.
This includes lessons familiar to our work such as a need to be able to adapt the programme and to take proactive steps to engage citizens who were marginalised.
In addition, once organisations better understood loneliness they
“stated how their thinking and understanding about loneliness was now embedded in organisational strategy. They were better placed to consider the bigger picture of their work, and how different people, services and organisations interconnect and influence on loneliness activity.”