Introduction
We will add articles to the Age-Friendly Updates page regularly to inform the progress of Caerphilly’s over 50 programmes. Posts will include some views on the Age-Friendly process.
Caerphilly will not be the only topic for our blogs. We will publish news from around Wales when it is available.
1. Age-Friendly Caerphilly Over 50
1.1 Taking Care Home Residents Out and About
What if we could take Care Home residents to visit a park (such as Roath or Margam park)? Wouldn’t they like to revisit and rekindle memories of Barry Island? Perhaps we could arrange a visit to a rehearsal of a Male Voice Choir.
An example of the feedback we received:-
“We could cast the video to the TV, which worked wonderfully because residents could see and react to what the wearer was seeing, and it really generated conversation amongst those watching and prompted some reminiscence with some stories being shared.”
“…the Caerffili Male Voice Choir rehearsals went down a storm! All four residents sang along with one resident observing, “she’s there…it’s as if she’s there” when he saw how engrossed she was.”
One reader of the article commented:-
“Really enjoyed reading it! Particularly the “lovely boys – well done” bit…that resonates strongly as that feeling of immersion that VR offers is powerful. It’s often hard to communicate this without an experience of VR as a frame of reference, but it comes across clearly.“
Read the full article: Virtual Reality Experience in Caerphilly Care Homes
1.2 Share-A-Smile
We could not hold an Annual General Meeting (AGM) for 3 years because of Covid and its aftermath. Historically, we have held the AGM as part of an annual “Share-a-Smile” event. Some successful ‘networking’ had enabled us to attract more volunteers to our Steering Committee, and the AGM gave us the opportunity to elect them formally. It also provided an excellent opportunity to mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day. Once again, we are indebted to Lewis School, Pengam, for making their facility available to us in the half-term.
It was pleasing to see so many attending the event and coming from as far afield as Nelson, Penpedairheol, Blackwood, Newbridge and Tir-Phil, Birthdir and White Rose Centre. Many of them embraced the spirit of the invitation to dress in World War 2 ‘fashion’. The presence of Winston Churchill was both a surprise and an honour, although it was uncertain if the large cigar would be legal today.
It was unfortunate that ‘Elvis’ (CJ Horton) could not attend. It was CJ that toured the Caerphilly Care Homes during the Covid pandemic and gave performances of Elvis in the car park, garden, or even on the patios. However, a big ‘thankyou’ to Eileen who followed the buffet by leading the entertainment with bingo and a quiz. Our thanks also to Maria and Naz, who worked tirelessly in the ‘NAAFI’ dispensing the tea and coffee.
2. Across Wales
Current Welsh members of the Global Network of Age Friendly Cities and Communities are:
Cardiff
Flintshire
Anglesey
Vale of Glamorgan
Gwynedd
Rhondda Cynon Taf
Areas currently developing applications close to submission are:
Swansea
Ceredigion
Carmarthenshire
Newport
Denbighshire
Membership to the Network is not an accreditation for age-friendliness. Rather, it reflects a combined commitment from the Local Authority and their network of partners to listen to the needs of their ageing population, assess and monitor their age-friendliness and work collaboratively with older people and across sectors to create age-friendly physical and social environments.
Membership is also a commitment to share experience, achievements and lessons learnt with other cities and communities throughout Wales and around the World. Joining the Network represents the start of this process and the beginning of access to the opportunities it brings.
