Scottish Older People’s Assembly SOPA & Tom Berney

Transcript:Scottish Older People’s Assembly SOPA & Tom Berney:
Scottish Older People’s Assembly SOPA & Tom Berney Chairperson (former) 1 University of the Third Age - Scotland U3A Some background about SOPA 2. Information about U3A 3. Loneliness SOPA Planning Group 4 1,300 U3As 424,000 Members All run by Older people University of the Third Age Stereotyping Every Old Person is Different 6 Loneliness & Isolation UK pop 65.6 m … 18% over 65 3.7 m live on their own (mostly women) 1.2m have no adult children …. 2m by 2020 10% feel lonely most of the time 41% feel cut off from modern life 12% feel cut off altogether Loneliness equivalent to 15 cigarettes a day Acute loneliness twice as likely to get Alzheimers 7 Community Housing Transport Technology Inequality Need for joined up Strategy Example U3A Activity Groups Art – Painting Computing Cryptic Crosswords Chess Dancing Family History (2) French Golf German History Horticulture Italian for Beginners Mahjong Photography Play Reading Pub Lunch and Discussion Reading for Pleasure Scrabble Short Flat Walks Spanish (2) Table Tennis Theatre Visits Town and Country Visits Travelogue Walking Group (Longer) Gentle Yoga 11 U3A run by older people for older people Using only their own talents and experience Empowers older people 12 14 What should young people do with their lives today? Many things, obviously. But the most daring thing is to create stable communities in which the terrible disease of loneliness can be cured.” Kurt Vonnegut Personal Responsibility