EngAGE Issue 2 - July / August 2010

Age & Opportunity's e-Newsletter

In this issue of EngAGE…

• Bealtaine success
• FitLine gets people motivated
• Protecting the pensions
• Stories from the programmes... AgeWise
• Two new leaflets from Age & Opportunity

1. Bealtaine, a dream come true

The theme for the Bealtaine festival 2010, celebrating creativity in older age, was 'Have dreams and speak them without fear' and people responded in their thousands. This year, the number of Bealtaine organisers increased by over one-quarter, from 403 to 513 and our estimated number of participants increased to over 101,000.
Some of the highlights included the following:

• All over the country, people greeted the sun with a Dawn Chorus;
• The Blow the Dust orchestra played to a packed National Concert Hall (with another Bealtaine orchestra set up in Cork);
• Ink captured the stories of people and their tattoos, some a history on the skin, others a mark to show a new beginning;
• Project Brand New Generation brought together performers in a great night of new beginnings (with some cycling at perilously high speeds around the stage).

We are currently compiling our feedback forms for the 2010 festival and are already planning a 'Gathering' of Bealtaine organisers for October to discuss Bealtaine 2011.
[Check the Bealtaine website www.bealtaine.com or become a fan of Bealtaine on Facebook for regular updates.]

2. Go for Life's FitLine gets people motivated

Go for Life's FitLine project is a telephone-based service to support older people who want to get more physically active. Research shows that telephone-assisted exercise counselling increases participation in physical activity among people in the community in both the short and the longer term.
FitLine uses the 'Stages of Change' model and 'Motivational Interviewing', similar to many smoking 'quit lines'. The innovation for FitLine is that the FitLine mentors, i.e. the people who make the calls, are all older adults themselves who were trained in the benefits of physical activity and in how to motivate people to be physically active.
After the initial pilot in Louth, FitLine is now running in both Louth and the South Dublin / Wicklow area, thanks to support from the HSE. Go for Life is the national programme promoting greater participation by older people in sport and physical activity. It is funded by the Irish Sports Council.
[Find out more about Go for Life and the upcoming Go for Life Small Grants Scheme.]

3. Protecting the pensions - Older & Bolder reacts

Following Government comments about the possible means testing of State contributory pensions, Older & Bolder issued a campaign alert which prompted thousands of older people to contact the Minister or their local TD to voice their opposition to the move.
Older & Bolder makes the point that over 84% of older people rely on the public pension and related supports to keep them out of poverty.
Following this action, the Minister has given his assurance that means testing will not be introduced. This current threat to the State pension, however, has prompted Older & Bolder to call for a long-term commitment to a fair and secure State Pension System for all.
Older & Bolder is an alliance of non-governmental organisations that champions the rights of all older people. Age & Opportunity is a member.
[Find out more about Older & Bolder's current pension campaign.]

4. Stories from our programmes... Sinéad Gibney and Ilse White from Google Ireland talk about AgeWise

Age & Opportunity recently ran an AgeWise workshop in Google Ireland. AgeWise workshops raise awareness of ageism among policy-makers and service providers whose work affects the lives of older people. Here's what Sinéad Gibney had to say about it:

"The AgeWise training helped me to view my own preconceptions of ageing more objectively. Although I was already quite positive about ageing in general and about my own ageing, the course helped me to challenge subconscious attitudes that I hold towards ageing and older people, and to become more aware of the societal messages that foster these attitudes.
For example, I tended to stereotype older people as infirm or dependent, failing to recognise the huge diversity in this group and the large majority of older people that are fully independent (and probably healthier than I am). This stereotype was presumably fuelled by the depictions in popular culture of older people as a group in need of help."

Ilse White, also at the workshop, agrees:

"I loved the AgeWise workshop. It was great to make you realise what your perceptions of older people are and how easy it is to fall into the ageism trap. It made me look at older people in a different, more positive light. It has made me realise that I needed to change my 'us and them' attitude."

[Read more about AgeWise.]

5. Two new leaflets from Age & Opportunity

We now have two new leaflets on our website:

• ‘Becoming a Provider of Ageing with Confidence’, aimed at Local Development Companies, Partnership Organisations and VECs who would like to get involved in delivering the Ageing with Confidence programme in their area;
• ‘Age & Opportunity: promoting greater participation by older people in Irish society’, a general leaflet about our range of programmes and how they work.

[Download the leaflets from the Age & Opportunity website or call us if you would like paper copies.]

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Age & Opportunity is the national not-for-profit organisation that promotes opportunities for greater participation by older people in society through partnerships and collaborative programmes.

Age & Opportunity
Marino Institute of Education
Griffith Avenue
Dublin 9
Tel. +353 (0)1 805 7709
Fax +353 (0)1 853 5117
Email info@ageandopportunity.ie
Web www.ageandopportunity.ie  

Age & Opportunity’s national programmes include:

• Agewise: Workshops to raise awareness of ageism among policy-makers and service providers whose work affects the lives of older people
• Bealtaine: The national festival celebrating creativity in older age
• Ageing with Confidence: Helping people to explore their own ageing in a positive way to maintain health and well-being
• Creative Exchanges: Using the arts to transform the experience of residents and staff in care centres for older people
• Go for Life: Promoting greater participation by older people in sport and physical activity
• Get Vocal: Strengthening the voices of older people in Irish society