Caring Together in Woodhouse and Little London

Caring together is a Neighbourhood Network scheme, ran by and for its members, operating primarily in a culturally diverse inner city area of Leeds. Our aim is to combat isolation and disadvantage among older people by working to empower individuals and groups within the areas of Woodhouse and Little London to become more involved as valued members of their Communities. It is largely due to the generosity of charitable trusts such as Wades that Caring Together is able to function and continue to provide good quality services to Older People in Woodhouse and Little London.

Moor Allerton Elderly Care

MAECare is a local North East Leeds charity set up in 1995; one of 37 Neighbourhood Networks, we support older people aged 60 and over living in LS17 (Moortown, Alwoodley and Shadwell).

Our aim is to work with and support people in their own homes to live independently as long as possible and enjoy a good quality of life.

Our objectives are:

• To reduce social isolation
• Increase the choice and control that people have over their own lives
• Improve the health of older people
• Support the involvement of older people in the local community

Over 1000 older local residents currently receive our quarterly newsletter. We are in contact with all our service users once a year either in person or by telephone. 

The support we offer varies from friendly visiting and telephone support to a creative writing group; social activities to a mental health programme with support groups, a range of exercise classes including Extend and Walking Football.

What they say…

When we applied for the grant it was pre-dated COVID-19 and was on the assumption we would be offering group activities face to face. It was great that Wades were so flexible. Initially they paused it; as we adjusted to ‘lockdown’ and found creative ways to engage our service users remotely, many of whom are digitally excluded, we asked if the grant to support two of the original four activities could be released to enable delivery. They were and it meant that the MAEWriters (our Creative Writing Group and the MAECare Warblers (the singing group) were able take place using group telephone conferencing facilities, which would otherwise have been prohibitively expensive.

Impact of grant

Monthly sessions ran for the 6 members of the Creative Writing group between July 2020 and March 2021, lead by the Tutor. The hour long session included feedback on wellbeing as well as discussion on ‘homework’. They were also informed about other creative writing projects and have contributed to our newsletter and other magazines including the December 2020 edition of the Time to Shine Magazine, ‘Shine’. They appreciated being able to talk as a whole group rather that a one to one phone call and liked the variety of topics; they also feel that the timeframe was long enough for concentration and comfort. One of the group had not managed to write creatively during the initial lockdown and needed to speak to other people to spur them on.

Monthly singing calls ran from March 2021 – September 2021 with a total of 23 older people joining in. Calls were lead by the singing instructor we had engaged pre-COVID-19. This proved to be another valuable activity we were able to offer during the months of lockdown and restrictions.

Neither of these activities would have taken place without the support of Wades.