Age UK Bristol – A year in review
Published on 14 March 2018 01:53 PM
It’s that time of year again – on Thursday 8th of March 2018 we held our Annual General Meeting. It was a great opportunity to get together with staff, volunteers and others to celebrate the achievements of Age UK Bristol during the 2016/2017 financial year.
Age UK CEO Mark Baker said, “In a challenging funding environment, I’m proud that Age UK Bristol has continued to provide the same high quality of services to older people in Bristol.
“We couldn’t have done everything that we did without the support of dedicated volunteers doing everything from telephone befriending to behind-the-scenes administrative work. Our staff continue to go above and beyond for the people we help, and I’d also like to thank the partners we work with, across Bristol.”
One of the services which Age UK Bristol offers is Information and Advice, helping older people with benefits, housing, social care, wills and referrals to other services. In the 2016/17 financial year, the service was able to secure almost £1.5 million in additional benefits for their clients, helping to ease financial strain.
The Age UK Bristol Housing Support service helps older people in precarious housing situations, assisting 149 vulnerable people in the year ending April 2017. A housing officer whose client was helped by the service said, “The Support Worker worked with my client in a way that no-one from our housing association has ever been able to!”
These services are just the tip of the iceberg; Age UK Bristol also offers footcare, computing courses, telephone befriending, telephone shopping, day services, hosts the Bristol Ageing Better partnership and organises the yearly Celebrating Age Festival.
Age UK Bristol Fundraising Officer Jennifer DeKalb-Poyer said, “Our services represent fantastic value for money when it comes to representing the interests of older people in this city, and we also wanted to show appreciation for our individual donors and grant funders for their support.
“If you’re interested in fundraising to help ensure we can keep up this vital work in future years, please do get in touch to find out about the fun opportunities we have coming up this year.”