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New Trustee Miranda Quinney talks to Alice Westlake about what motivated her to join the Board.

AW: Can you tell us a bit about your background and what skills and experience you are bringing to the role?

MQ: I worked in end of life care with Hospice UK, developing a creative intervention to use with people to help them share their life story in a group setting. This led me back into academia where I studied for a PhD in Gerontology – the study of ageing. The specific area I studied was psychological wellbeing, trying to answer the question ‘how do you prepare for a good old age’ – something I’m really passionate about.

AW: you’re also a Barbican resident.

MQ: yes, I’m fairly new to the Barbican, so I’m seeing with fresh eyes what it means to be a City resident.

AW: Why did you decide to get involved with Age UK City of London?

MQ: Being an older person myself, and having studied wellbeing and how to age well, I felt it was really important to get involved in some volunteering, and wanted to do something close to home, in my local community. I started volunteering at the Golden Social and was impressed by the sense of ownership in terms of the participants. People weren’t sitting around expecting to be waited on – they had a say and they had control, and they really cared for one another.

With Age UK City of London I feel I am getting involved with an organisation that’s already doing an amazing job, and supporting them to do an even better job.

It’s important that the services and activities are open to everyone; they’re not exclusive.

I think Age UK City of London is doing something really important here.