Give An Hour to help the elderly

Together with Age UK Oxfordshire, we are unveiling our Give An Hour campaign, which calls on readers to reinforce the army of volunteers helping all those older people in Oxfordshire desperately in need of help and support.

The challenge is to make a difference to an elderly person’s day by giving up an hour of your time to help.

And the target in the coming weeks is to gather sufficient volunteers to complete 10,000 hours of voluntary work.

The Oxford Times is running the campaign in partnership with Age UK Oxfordshire, a charity with more than 40 years of experience of promoting the wellbeing of older people.

Together we will be urging people of all ages to give up just one hour a week, or month, or even a year, to help. The voluntary work could take the form of helping out in a community club, becoming a befriender or leafleting for Age UK Oxfordshire.

Paul Cann, Age UK Oxfordshire’s chief executive, said: “Today we launch our partnership with The Oxford Times to work together and help people have a truly happy, connected later life.

“The core ask of our campaign is for the people of Oxfordshire to give an hour to older people — either through volunteering for our services as a on-off or on a regular basis, or through donations to keep our information and advice helpline active and efficient.

“We all understand the power of just an hour. Giving an hour a week, or even a year, can make a difference to your community.”

During the coming weeks, The Oxford Times will be giving updates on the work volunteers are doing, through the stories of elderly people, volunteers and fundraisers. Some 29,000 people in Oxfordshire are over 80, and there will be 24,000 more by 2028. Derek Holmes, editor of The Oxford Times, said: “We are all conscious that looking after vulnerable elderly members of the population places big demands on Oxfordshire right now. And there is no doubt it will place even bigger demands on the county in the future.

“We are pleased to join Age UK Oxfordshire to address something that affects so many of our readers, whether they are young people with ageing parents, carers or elderly readers themselves.”

Basil Mace, 87, of Witney, who visits a day centre near his home every week, urged everyone in Oxfordshire to get behind the campaign.

Mr Mace said: “The best thing I ever did was to move to Oxfordshire from London. I was in the Metropolitan Police for 25 years before I retired and then had a number of jobs. My son and I loved fishing and decided to buy a holiday van in Oxfordshire. From then on, I fell in love with the county and moved here. Living in Oxfordshire has allowed me to add many years to my life.”

Give An Hour is being launched at a time when pressure on services and support for local elderly has never been more intense in the face of massive cutbacks in public spending.

Mr Cann said: “There can be no doubt that clouds are gathering for older people.

“Age UK Oxfordshire is seriously concerned that precisely the activities that will help us all stay well and working may be cut because of desperation for short-term economies in the face of reduced funding from Government.”

With Oxfordshire widely viewed as an affluent county, the levels of financial hardship among the county’s pensioners can be overlooked. But last year an Age UK Oxfordshire study, A Tale of Two Counties: Growing Older in Oxfordshire, highlighted serious levels of inequality between rich and poor pensioners.

ANYONE interested in joining our campaign by giving an hour should contact 01235 849407 or email giveanhour@ageukoxfordshire.org.uk Readers may also visit the website at www.ageukoxfordshire.org.uk

There are many ways that you can support our Give An Hour campaign. The choice of what you could do with your hour of voluntary work is wide.

Here are some suggestions:

• Help at a community club and make a real difference to an older person’s day
• Share some of your computer skills with an older person by tutoring IT lessons
• Volunteer for a morning or afternoon in one of Age UK Oxfordshire shops
• Give an hour to an information and advice helpline by making a donation through the website www.ageukoxfordshire.org.uk
• Leaflet for an Age UK Oxfordshire event around your local area or on one of the open days
• Volunteer for an hour to help at the charity’s café in Banbury
• Spend a morning or afternoon on reception at one of the charity’s county offices
• Join in on one of the fundraising events, such as a tea tent or tin shake
• Work on the one-link service by making informal, sociable calls to lonely and isolated older people
• Become a Local Link for Age UK Oxfordshire, keeping elderly people up to date with the information and services available to them
• Join the Health and Social Care Panel, which meets on a monthly basis
• Become a befriender and support someone with a life-threatening illness.