On Tuesday 19th March, over 30 people from the past and present work of Learning for the Fourth Age gathered together to celebrate the great work of the charity over the last 16 years.
Some of the key impact of the charity since 2008 includes:
- Raising almost £1.3m by writing grant funding bids and selling services to care homes
- Designing and delivering a wide range of innovative projects for organisations including Age UK, the Lottery, NHS trusts and national government departments
- Working with over 2,500 individual older people receiving care providing a range of learning services in group and one to one formats
- Contracting with more than 50 care homes to sell services and partner for project working
- Recruiting, training and managing over 1,200 volunteers
- Hosting The Princess Royal in a care home as a showcase event for adult learning best practice
- Working to set up branches in Sheffield and Leeds from 2008 until 2013, transporting the model of volunteers enhancing quality of life in care to different cities
- Contributing to National Institute for Care Excellence guidelines for Care Settings
- Being part of Leicester Ageing Together, ensuring that older people living in care settings were given a voice as part of a £5 million programme exploring healthy later lives across the city
In an emotional closing speech, founder and CEO, Melissa March, said: “Learning for the Fourth Age might be closing but what we have shared and learned in our work with older people is not done. In some ways, it is only just beginning. We have built a community together for the benefit of all of those thousands of older people we look after, and we have supported each other too.”
She ended with: “Care settings are often written off but we will not let that happen. Older people are often forgotten but we have aspiration that they can achieve more.Those with dementia can often be neglected but we shine a focus on what they can still enjoy. Between us, we have not only been challenging those negative preconceptions about later life but we have had the belief to take action to improve people’s lives. We have shown that things could be different and better time and time again. None of us are ever too old to learn – we aren’t – thank you for helping us to prove that over the last sixteen years.”
Please find the final report of Learning for the Fourth Age attached here.