Adrienne Rowly - Good Neighbour Co-ordinator

AgeUk Sunderland is aiming to make the city a friendlier and more neighbourly place to live. It is an initiative not just for older people but for the whole community. Obviously, older people will benefit, but the whole community will improve if we can all start to be better neighbours and look out for each other in times of need or emergency. We want to get the message across to everyone, especially to the age group that go out to work first thing in the morning and don’t return until the evening and do not have the opportunity to meet their neighbours.

We all lead busy lives and seem to have less time to stop and think about our neighbours and their needs. If we all get to know our neighbours it will make the city a safer and better place to live. To this end, AgeUk Sunderland has developed a leaflet which points out the benefits of helping each other and encouraging neighbours to exchange emergency contact details in case of an emergency. It is all too easy for older people to become isolated when living alone. Family dynamics have changed; forty years ago it was quite common to have several generations of the same family living within a few streets of each other. The population today has become more mobile, people are moving around the country or even the world to go where the work is or their standards of living can be improved.

If we make a habit of taking a few minutes each week just to look in on our neighbours especially if they are older or less able and make sure that they are well and not in need. A simple gesture once or twice a week can make all the difference to an older or disabled person. If we can set a precedent now by getting neighbours of all ages talking and caring for each other then we will set an example for the future generations.

The Good Neighbour Project is also encouraging schemes that will involve different generations working together. The aim is to break down barriers and prejudices. Many older people’s perception of today’s youth is negative and that all young people are “up to no good”. This is not the case; there are many young people out there who are willing to help older people given the chance and encouragement.

Likewise, younger people don’t always have a positive experience of older people and think that they are boring and don’t know what life is all about. They don’t realise that not only have many of them lived through a world war and its aftermath, but they have also had the experience of the “rock and roll years” and the “swinging sixties”!

Following on from here, The Good Neighbour co-ordinator is looking to recruit volunteers to set up local Good Neighbour Teams that can carry out the small tasks that family or neighbours used to do for each other. The volunteers can give a few hours of their time each week, need no special skills, just a desire to be a good neighbour and make their community a better place to live.

Volunteers can help in a number of ways and include :

• Shopping for the basics (in the event of illness or bad weather)
• Practical assistance with minor tasks such as changing a light bulb or checking a smoke alarm battery.
• Reading forms and helping to fill them in
• Collecting prescriptions
• Making a light meal in the event of illness (scrambled eggs is an example)
• Dog walking in the event of illness

Volunteers can choose the ways they feel they can help (e.g. some people may not feel comfortable walking a dog or completing forms but could do shopping or heat up soup and make toast!) I you feel you can give a few hours a week to help your community or would like more information and leaflets, please contact:

Download our leaflet here

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