YOU do not know what is round the corner.

After last year’s successful Oxford UN Older Peoples’ Day event held in Oxford Town Hall last October – the ninth year in a row - Oxford 50+ Network agreed to me booking the town hall for a tenth event, which was to take place tomorrow (October 2).

Sadly, for obvious reasons, this is not now happening.

But I am ever hopeful we will be able to celebrate Oxford’s tenth Older Peoples’ Day next year.

The observance day itself is now 30 years old, after the UN decided in 1990 there needed to be a greater focus on responding to the opportunities and challenges of population ageing in the 21st century and to promoting the development of a society for all ages. When, a decade ago, we first marked the day in Oxford, an event was held at Bonn Square with just three or four tables and a health walk.

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It happened to be a very sunny day, but we realised not every year would be so fine and Oxford City Council agreed to future Older Peoples’ Day celebrations being held in the town hall.

Oxford City Council has continued to support older people. Councillor Pat Kennedy is the council’s Older Persons’ Champion.

Last year, 62 different organisations booked a stall to display the services available to support, advise and inform older people, as well as recruit potential volunteers among older people for their charity or research project. Go Active volunteers organised a city centre health walk.

The wide range of organisations attending reflected the diversity of needs, supports and interests to be found in Oxford.

Among those attending were the police, trading standards, fire & rescue; various Oxford City Council services, home improvements, parks & green spaces, waste recycling, Oxford museum services, sports & leisure.

From the NHS and Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group – the Falls Prevention Service, adult and older people’s teams and staff recruiting for some of the long term conditions research projects, eg diabetes.

Oxford Mail:

Oxford Town Hall where the city's Older Peoples’ Day event is held. Picture: Ed Nix

Oxfordshire County Council’s library services were represented for the first time.

Oxford Brookes University brought along tricycles – fixed wheels, no cycling round the town hall allowed – to explore older people’s views and reactions. Students from the Oxford Student Hub ran an internet café and recruited older learners for the Internet classes which are funded by OX50+.

It never ceases to amaze me how many local charities and voluntary groups there are; and after Covid-19 there are many, many more.

Yes, this has been a sad and lonely time for many people and as a result of local needs there are now community support groups, phone contacting groups, street support groups.

There are volunteers delivering medicines on behalf of the local pharmacists either while taking a daily walk or as part of a cycle ride.

Oxford had a number of food banks before Covid-19 but now there are many more all organised and run by volunteers and some still looking for more volunteers.

Needing drivers is Oxford Mutual Aid, phone 07310160595 and Botley Community Larder, only set up on September 1, is looking for cyclists to make deliveries to homeless people on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays between 4.30pm and 6.30pm, phone 07759135811.

I hope these new local support groups will join the event next year.

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Some of the local groups which have attended previously are Daybreak, the Dementia charity, Age UK Oxfordshire, Citizens Advice, Readeasy and ARCh, OCVA.

The Windrush Group and Restore attended last year for the first time.

Other regular attenders have been NPC, Blind Veterans, Oxtalk and Oxfordshire Association for the Blind, the Hard of Hearing Club, Folk and Country Dance clubs and long term conditions groups, Parkinson’s, Breast Cancer Support and MIND.

Oxford’s UN Older Peoples’ Day has been a showcase opportunity for large and small providers, whether government funded, local grant aided or 100 per cent voluntarily managed, to come together for the same purpose, to let older people know what is available in the Oxford area.

Oxford Brookes’ Healthy Ageing & Care Network is arranging, throughout November, an exciting month of events and activities, which will highlight the opportunities and challenges of our ageing society. Myself and Penny Thewlis, chief executive of Age UK Oxfordshire were invited to join the Oxford Brookes planning group.

The full programme of events will be available shortly.

I look forward to meeting everyone again at Oxford’s tenth UN Older Peoples’ Day in October 2021.