International Day of Older People

Celebrating IDOP 2025 in Buckinghamshire

To mark IDOP 2025, Age UK Buckinghamshire, alongside the Buckinghamshire Council Public Health team, brought together local partners for a stakeholder event at The Vineyard in Aylesbury.

The event showcased progress on the Age Friendly Bucks Programme and provided space for shared learning, reflection and collaboration across the county.

Over 70 partners from across health, voluntary, community and statutory sectors attended, demonstrating the shared commitment to making Buckinghamshire a more age-friendly place to live.

The event was supported by senior leaders including local councillors, public health leadership and voluntary sector representatives, underlining the importance of collective action in supporting healthy ageing.

The Age Friendly Bucks Programme

The Age Friendly Bucks Programme supports the ambition to help residents live healthier, more active lives for longer. It is shaped by the World Health Organisation’s Age Friendly framework and focuses on eight interconnected domains that influence quality of life from mid-life onwards.

Partners heard about practical initiatives already underway, including:

• Community-based connection projects, such as Coffee, Cake and Company.

• Tackling ageism through training and resources, see our Insights to Impact page.

• Improving access to information and support, see our Information and Advice service.

• Investment through the Healthy Ageing Fund.

Listening to residents’ experiences

Insights from county-wide engagement and community conversations were shared, helping partners understand what ageing well could look like for people living in Buckinghamshire.

Key themes included:

• The importance of social participation.

• Challenges around transport and housing.

• Barriers created by digital exclusion.

• Concerns around mobility, confidence and fear of falling.

These insights are shaping priorities and ensuring future work reflects lived experience.

Breakout sessions

Partners took part in interactive breakout sessions focused on:

1. Social Connectedness 

Participants explored the benefits of being socially connected, the impact on individuals' health and wellbeing if they are not connected, and the barriers that exist as well as possible solutions, all of which can be found in the updated Staying Connected guide. 

Participants shared their insight into supporting social connections at a local community level, the challenges some faced, and the success others have had in delivering activities which engage residents. The main challenges were knowing what activities are available, both to organisations and residents, and how isolated or lonely people can be identified and supported to engage.

2. Building a Stronger Age Friendly Bucks Network

At the event, we explored gaps and opportunities in making Buckinghamshire a truly age friendly community. This session generated a wealth of ideas and practical solutions aimed at strengthening the Age Friendly Bucks Network. Partners shared valuable insights on how we can work together to: 

• Expand the reach of age-friendly initiatives to address barriers to inclusion and participation. 
• Foster collaboration across sectors and communities.

These discussions are helping shape the next phase of our work, ensuring that the network continues to grow and evolve in response to the needs of the residents across the county.  

3. Insights to Impact

Turning community feedback into action. Partners discussed practical steps organisations can take to tackle three main areas that came to light as a result of our community engagement work: 

1. Older adults would like more opportunities to connect with others.
2. Many older adults are digitally excluded.
3. Many older adults tell us that they have a fear of falls.

Each session ended with a personal or organisational pledge to take at least one step towards becoming more age friendly.

IDOP 2025 results

Feedback from the event was extremely positive, and work is already underway to:

• Share next steps through a follow-up webinar.

• Continue strengthening the Age Friendly Bucks Network.

• Embed insights into future planning and delivery.

• Hold a conference in Summer 2026.

The event reinforced a shared ambition: to work together so that Buckinghamshire is a place where people can age well, stay connected and feel they belong.

Useful Resources

Our Age Friendly webpages have more information on the outcomes of our engagement work, what we're doing to address these issues and ideas about how we all can get involved in helping people to age well.