A successful first Greater Manchester Active Ageing Week

By GreaterSport | 14 August 2019 | TAGS: #GMActiveAgeing, Active ageing, older adults

The inaugural Greater Manchester (GM) Active Ageing Week took place from July 29^th – August 2^nd 2019. The week-long campaign, aimed to encourage and enable older adults to move more within everyday life to benefit their mental and physical health and to reduce social isolation.

Personal stories from older adults were shared throughout the week to help inspire people across the region that no matter your age you can still benefit from physical activity. Stories such as 83 year old Gordon from Rochdale who joined a walking group as a way of getting outside and socialising with other people. With his wife living in care, the walks have helped to ensure that he isn’t alone and have given him a great sense of belonging. He also completed the 2018 Manchester Half Marathon proving to young and old alike, that age really isn’t a barrier to physical activity! Watch his story here.

The Active Ageing: Engaging Older Adults Workshop also took place during the week, where we engaged with the wider ageing organisations outside of the physical activity world who heard from those engaging older adults in physical activity across the region. This was opened by Councillor Brenda Warrington, the Executive Lead for Tameside council and the lead for Age-Friendly Greater Manchester. There are a wide range of activities happening across Greater Manchester including Bolton’s wide range of dance classes including line dancing and jive, Stockport’s ‘Bat and Chat’ table tennis sessions and Wigan’s Active Care Homes. Learnings from the GM Active Ageing Programme were also shared by the University of Manchester and the importance of strength and balance activities within later life to prolong a healthy life.

The week was also featured in the press with coverage on BBC Breakfast, ITV Granada Reports and other media outlets to raise further awareness of the importance of being active in later life. On top of that, over 75,000 older adults in Greater Manchester were reached through social media, where their peers stories were shared with them with the hope of inspiring them to move a little more in their lives.

To find out more about Active Ageing in Greater Manchester, please contact Beth Mitchell.