In Waterloo Ashton, we have worked with local councillors and organisations that work with older people to set up a number of Ambition for Ageing conversations. One of these was organised jointly with the live in warden at Joseph Jennings, a Housing 21 sheltered unit.  The aim of the event was to talk to people about Ambition for Ageing and to start discussions to gather and record information about local assets, talk about ideas to make the area more age friendly and to start to involve potential volunteers.  Thirteen tenants joined us and we heard from everyone about their experiences of living in Waterloo and a range of ideas that would make it better.

Issued addresed included improving the seating at a nearby bus stop, looking into issues around transport (some people were experiencing problems with getting their walking frames on buses and in some vehicles) and ideas for holding more activities in the sheltered accommodation.  This was followed up by a joint celebration in honour of the Queen’s birthday where we were joined by some other people who lived nearby.

One of the people who attended the Queen’s birthday celebrations lived in the community and was herself quite isolated.  The warden at Joseph Jennings was contact by her daughter asking if it would be possible for her mother to attend more events at Joseph Jennings.  After these events took place the residents thought that old time sequence ball room dancing sessions would be a good way to encourage more people to become active both physically and mentally.  Therefore Joseph Jennings has proposed an investment to provide 12 taster sessions for them and the local community.