by John Prince
Older people in Hornsea have been sharing their experiences and giving feedback about what they value about where they live and what could be better, to enable them to live well, stay connected and remain part of community life.
An event was held at St Nicholas Parish Hall to celebrate the International Day of Older Persons, bringing together agencies and organisations from up and down the coast and across East Yorkshire.
Led by the HEY Smile Foundation alongside East Riding Council, Home Instead and Beverley Housing Charity, the day was aimed at building stronger communities and brighter tomorrows.
It formed part of the Age Friendly Communities project that has been gathering the views of older residents across the area.
It aims to find out about common goals and needs and bridge communities from Bridlington down to Withernsea and further across Holderness, to help influence local conversations, planning and change.
Kerri Harold from the HEY Smile Foundation said: “We asked the question – what does your community look like for you?”
“What we’ve got here today is some of the people that have taken part in those surveys, and some of the organisations we’ve used.
“We’ve been lucky to work alongside Sight Support, the Shore Centre and the Salvation Army in Bridlington, and asked them to talk to their service users and residents and tell us what makes an age-friendly community.
“How can we as an organisation in the voluntary sector, work alongside our colleagues at East Riding of Yorkshire Council to make that difference?
“We picked Hornsea because it is in the middle of Holderness. We’ve got Bridlington then we’ve got Withernsea, so we wanted to get a central point.”
She added: “Some of the information we’ve had back has been around gaps in provision. Transport is a major issue and being able to access GP appointments and hospital appointments.
“It’s so hard to get a bus. If you’ve got an eight thirty appointment, you’ve got no chance of getting to it.
“There have been little bits around people not feeling safe in their community, not wanting to go out after dark and not being able to access banks after hours.
“Also, some of the issues were about not being able to access long walks anymore, because there’s nowhere to sit down in-between, and around paving and pathways not being as flat and as safe. As we know, a fall for someone who is older can be life-changing and can prevent them from being mobile.
“This needs to be collaborative. We need to work together. Not one service has the answer, but together we can all make a bigger impact. That’s entirely what we’ve been trying to do here.”
Representing Withernsea, mayor Cllr Kristina Richardson (above centre) spoke with residents and spent time at a ‘living story’ map discussing thoughts, memories and ideas already gathered through the project. Part of her mayoral objectives this year is to strengthen community connections beyond Withernsea.
She said: “Hornsea is our close neighbour, we have a massive coastline and we are all big advocates for the community.
“Withernsea has an ageing population, and I think getting a better understanding of how we can support and better connect is always a positive.
“We share a lot in common. Transport is geographically isolated, so we hear that quite a lot. I think getting a better understanding of what the challenges are – not just troubles with transport – is really important.
“Not only can we understand them, but we can feed them back to the right places so we can hopefully make a positive impact.
“Everything we can do to collate as much understanding of our communities gives us armour to channel that into the right places so our voices can be heard.
“It’s great to be invited along.”
Cllr Richardson also highlighted HEY Smile Foundation’s Growing Green and Blue Health project that helps support and improve mental health and wellbeing through connecting people with nature.
Anthony Hurd from the project (above) said: “It’s about getting people outdoors.
“We’ve done a lot of work with the NHS with things like mental health, so people can engage more with nature.
“Working with the organisations that deliver activities in the outdoors, we’ve got a fantastic programme to work directly in communities to engage those that are facing barriers.
“It could be things like caring responsibilities or physical health, or around anxiety and about taking part in things.
“Anyone that kind of faces a barrier, we can work with them to build their confidence in using the outdoors.”
Adam Swann (above) from ERYC Active Communities said: “Isolation is a key thing for older people, so to get out there, even if it’s a short walk to meet new people and have a coffee is really important.
“Keeping moving keeps the mind healthy and keeps the body active. Days like today are a great way to showcase what we do, but also what other community groups in Hornsea are offering.”
Janet Smith, public health lead for Healthy Ageing and Health Inequalities at East Riding Council, said: “The event provides a great opportunity for us to engage with residents to discuss age friendliness in the East Riding.
“We have had lots of conversations with people in rural and coastal communities, which provide us with the insights we need to develop future actions to continue to improve the age friendliness of the East Riding.”
Find out more news, support and resources for people and organisations working in communities across the East Riding at vcse.uk.
