Six weeks on from its launch at the Dracaena Centre in Falmouth, Active Plus Communities has supported a group of 27 people aged from 52 to 88 to build friendships, confidence and community involvement.
On Monday 20 July they celebrated their journey so far, inviting VIPs from the community, including Mayor of Falmouth, John Body, to share their experience.
Participant Derek Brown, 87, from Falmouth said: “Coming here is the highlight of the week, we laugh a lot, learn a lot and have a good mug of tea. The people who lead the course are all first class, helpful and have a good sense of humour. I think they enjoy the course as much as we do!”
Paul Buxton, former Royal Marine medic now Communities Team Leader at Active Plus added: “Active Plus Communities is all about people helping themselves through helping others. Older people and injured military veterans work together to make new friends, try new things and have great fun along the way. Both groups have things in common such as experiencing isolation, loneliness, ill-health or other challenges in life. This programme helps us all”
The Falmouth group will continue to meet along with their Active Plus Communities mentor to develop community projects and activities. They will also link up with the 19 other communities that will joining the Big Lottery funded project. Groups are currently running in Falmouth, St Austell and Camborne and will also start in Helston and Bude in the Autumn.
Active Plus Communities tackles loneliness and isolation and will help older people to get more active, more informed and more involved in their communities through activities facilitated by military veterans. Over a 4 year period, Active Plus Communities will deliver in 20 communities across Cornwall, with injured military veterans supporting 400 older people through six-week courses and ongoing support to develop community events and projects, led by the older people themselves. The Programme is funded by the Big Lottery.