The meeting was held at the Shay Stadium Halifax. HX1 2YS and was attended by the committee and several visitors including representatives of Calderdale Council, Stonewater Housing, Age UK, West Yorkshire Police, the Staying Well Hub and Active Calderdale.
As well as the official business of the Forum, including the re-election of the committee and the welcoming of new committee member Chris Willis, the Forum’s communications team presented an update of their activities and guests were invited to speak about their roles and interest in ageing issues in Calderdale.
Highlights from the communications report
- Increasing popularity of the website – 14,000 visitors in the last 12 months, a 2,700 increase over the previous year
- In Touch groups and activity listings are the most popular sections of the website.
- Social media followers continue to grow
- The email newsletter is now sent out to over 500 subscribers and paper versions are delivered to key locations in Calderdale
- A survey is running on the website throughout Spring 2022 to guage opinion of the Forum’s communications and gather more details of the issues and concerns affecting older people.
Funding update
Funding from Voluntary Action Calderdale was received in January 2022 to support their “Together we Can” campaign to help people access the right NHS service for their needs and promoted through all communications channels.
New funding has been received from Community Foundation for Calderdale and Calderdale Council which will allow the Forum to publish six permanent content online hubs covering Health & Wellbeing, Events & Activities, Local & Community, Finance & Money, Ageing & Care and Help & Support, strengthen its communication of older age issues and concerns and support more awareness raising of its work.
Other news
In Autum 2021 Calderdale Forum 50 Plus was invited to join the Ageing Well Calderdale Alliance Board and Working Group and will be providing information and support to the initiative.
The Forum will be exhibiting at the Vision 2024 event on Thursday 26 May and an Older Person’s Fair in Brighouse on 10 June.
A new marketing leaflet will be printed and distributed to raise awareness of the Forum’s role in Calderdale.
Our next meeting
Our next committee meeting is on Monday 20th June at 2pm at the Shay Stadium. Visitors are invited to attend.
We warmly welcome new members to our committee which meets bi-monthly in Halifax.
Our friendly and informal meetings provide a voice for older people in Calderdale and an opportunity for residents to contribute their views and raise issues of concern.
If you are interested in joining us either as a full committee member or a residents member, here are more details.