On Wednesday 16th March invited guests and representatives from over 300 Age Scotland member groups came together for our 2016 National Conference.
Attendees travelled from across Scotland to take part in the conference held at Perth Concert Hall. It was a fantastic day with much discussion about what we mean by quality of life in later life. Read on for a round up of the day.
Morning Session: Care Homes, Creativity and Urban Planning
Our conference chair, award-winning journalist Pennie Taylor, kicked off the day by posing two questions to the room: When is life good? When is it not so good?
Answers ranged from thought-provoking to funny to poignant and it was clear that quality of life means different things to different people.
Here’s just some examples of the hundreds of responses we received:
We were then joined by our guest speakers. First up we had Fiona Cook, Facilitator at my Home Life Scotland discussing quality of life in care homes. Fiona introduced My Home Life Scotland and its’ work to improve quality of life in care homes for those who live in, work in and visit care homes.
We were then joined by Andrew Crummy – Community Artist and Designer of the Great Tapestry of Scotland. Andrew argued that regardless of age, everyone is creative and has something to say, and went on to describe how art can bring communities together and improve quality of life for everyone.
(L-R) Professor Greg Lloyd, Fiona Cook and Andrew Crummy take questions from the audience
Lastly Greg Lloyd – Emeritus Professor of Urban Planning joined us from Ulster University. Professor Lloyd provided a fascinating overview of how urban planning and our environment can directly impact our quality of life. He went on to consider how we may be able to play a more active role in planning in the future to ensure a better quality of life in later life.
Our speakers got the room thinking and we had many attendees posing further questions and ideas to the speakers and wider floor. You can watch footage from the live stream of the guest speakers and subsequent discussion here.
Afternoon Session: Workshops, Award Winners and Eddi Reader
An attendee laughs taking part in the “Looking after you” workshop
After some lunch and further opportunity to visit our information stalls, many attendees headed into one of our interactive workshops. We had five in total on a range of topics
related to quality of life, including Men’s’ learning and well being, spirituality and looking after you.
Attendees then came back together to commence the Age Scotland awards. The awards celebrate individuals and groups that are doing great work for older people in their local community. It was certainly a tough year for the judges, with many quality entries. As our chief executive Brian Sloan said, we would love to have given everyone an award, but there can only be one winner!
Eddi Reader presents Lynn Benge with the Volunteer of the Year Award.
Our winners are listed below. Click on the links to watch a 2-3 minute video about the great work they did that earned them the award.
- Member Group of the Year: Duns Senior Citizens Club
- Jess Barrow Award for Campaigning & Influencing (Sponsored by McCarthy & Stone): Make it Happen Falkirk District Forum
- Patrick Brooks Partnership Award: Care Home Go 4 Gold Steering Group
- Older People’s Employer of the Year: John Lewis plc
- Volunteer of the Year (Sponsored by Solicitors for Older People Scotland): Lynn Benge
- Services for Older People of the Year (Sponsored by SP Energy Networks): Shopper-Aide Ltd
- Outstanding service to the community: Broomlands and Bourtreehill Age Concern
Award-winning singer and songwriter Eddi Reader joined us to present the awards and rounded off the conference with a fantastic performance that had the whole concert hall singing along.
It was a great day full of discussion and debate about what we can do collectively to improve quality of life for those in later life.
What do you think has the biggest impact on quality of life? What could be done to improve quality of life in Scotland? Tell us in the comments below!
All images featured in this post by Mihaela Bodlovic
The Age Scotland Blog 