Are you settling back somewhere, in summer sun? Or maybe, like us up in Yorkshire, you are still waiting for any sun… or maybe already hoping for an Indian summer? Despite terrible heatwaves and wildfires on the news, and a recognition that excess heat is at least as likely to kill as excess cold, there is a very human urge to soak up some sun before facing another winter.  

We have set up a 90 minute webinar, to help you help older people keep warm and socially engaged next winter. Book your free place on:

Winter hubs: finding the older people you’d really like to welcome.

You can book on to any one of four dates:

• Wednesday September 20
• Tuesday October 3
• Thursday October 12
• Wednesday November 8

Last winter the cost of living crisis led many organisations to set up or support an array of ‘warm spaces’ (or ‘winter hubs’, or ‘warm banks’): places people could go to warm through for some of the day, and maybe get something hot to eat. They were touted as a solution to the fact that some of the poorest members of society were struggling with the cost of keeping warm and of cooking. While many people were helped in that highly practical way, one of the most important aspects was warm space was the feeling of welcome in a warm ‘social space’.

But while respite from poverty was important, the survey found, it was secondary to warm rooms’ other main if perhaps unforeseen benefit: challenging the social blight of loneliness.

Patrick Butler, The Guardian (Warm Welcome Campaign)

The Winter hubs webinar will help you if you are commissioning, thinking of restarting a warm space, or if you are coming new to the concept.

We can help you use the learning from the Ageing Better programme around finding those less likely to engage with services and engaging people successfully in groups, to make your warm space really social this winter. We hope this will help more of the most lonely feel welcomed, gain a sense of connection to their local community and a chance to make new friends.

The interactive webinar will include:

• insight from older people around preconceptions and barriers to engagement ways to pitch your ‘winter space’ offer
• examples of friendly communications – language and images – to help you promote your offer
• practical strategies to find and engage the older people you want to meet, including displaying physical information and how to approach people out on the street.
• effective techniques you can use to run a group in a way that promotes a warm welcome
• links to appropriate organisations and networks.

We (Good Practice Mentors) also run a series of in-depth sessions – check out our September programme.

If you are interested in how that sense of connection and purpose can reduce feelings of loneliness, we recommend you find out how Ageing Well in Torbay involved people in creating stronger local communities, using a strengths-based approach.

Book your free place on the winter hubs webinar.

Jessica Duffy
Good Practice Mentor