Open Age Online
Delivering group activities to older people, off and online, to keep them socially connected, healthier, happier and having fun for longer.
About the project
Open Age (OA) is a Charitable Incorporate Organisation (CIO) registered with the Charity Commission (No. 1160125). We keep our members healthier, happier, and having fun for longer.
We have a 30-year history of delivery high quality group activities for older people. Pre pandemic Open Age delivered 250+ activities from 50-60 venues reaching 1,500 older people per week. We have 4000+ active members.
Open Age is a lifeline for me [..] Open Age is like an extended family to me. The friendships I have made through Open Age are a key part of my life.
(Female 80-89)
Almost a third of over 65s live alone, with 1.2 million chronically lonely older people in the UK. An ‘epidemic of loneliness’ and rising costs of an ageing population are putting major strain on health and care budgets. Open Age has a proven model to support older people to keep them healthy and socially connected.
During the pandemic Open Age developed a regular weekly programme of interactive online activities using Zoom. At our peak we delivered 100+ hours of online activities per week accessed by over 1800 older people. This project was successful but not scalable as currently delivered.
The project will work with older people and customers using a Design Council Double Diamond user-centred design process to identify how Open Age will scale up online delivery and increase the number of older people who can be reached and therefore benefit from the service.