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About Elders Council

The Elders Council is a membership organisation for people aged 50 and over in Newcastle upon Tyne.   

 

We want to promote a positive image of ageing and inspire and enable older people to be active in their local communities and the life of the city. 

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Our active members come together and lead on, contribute to and participate in a wide range of projects that seek to address the issues that older people across the city have told us are important to them.  We encourage older people to speak up about what matters to them and to engage with decision-makers to influence policy and practice.

 

We currently have 7 members on our board of trustees and employ 2 members of staff. 

About Elders Council
Our Team

Our Team

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Anne Raffle
Chair 

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Keith Williamson
Treasurer/Secretary

 

Sue Harrop
Trustee
 

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Nadeem Ahmad
Trustee

 

Farida Rehman
Trustee

 

Silvia Leigh
Trustee

 

Diane Scott
Trustee

 

STAFF
Clare Levi
Executive Officer 


 

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STAFF
Gillian Spoor

Membership Secretary/Administrator
 

Our History

Our History

The Elders Council was started by a group of older people who wanted to speak for themselves, rather than having others speak for them.  They knew the value of the experiences and insights that older people have and how this could be used in developing policy and practice.

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The Elders Council began life as an Older People’s Network, bringing together older people led from groups such as University of the Third Age and Action for Health – Senior Citizens in Newcastle. 

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In 1999 we were involved in a project called House for Life in which we worked as an advisory group on the adaptation of a semi-detached house to make it accessible and suitable for an older person.  The house was open as a show house for a few weeks to show members of the public and professionals what can be achieved by retrofitting a normal house.  The project demonstrated the power of the insights of older people to influencing change and laid the foundations for the work that was to come.

 

We were formally established as a Company Limited by Guarantee and a Registered Charity in 2007. 

 

Over the years we have pioneered a variety of approaches to enable older people to have a voice, in particular working through the arts to give creative expression to what matters to us. 

 

We championed Newcastle’s commitment to sign up to the World Health Organisations Age Friendly Cities and Communities Network and are active on Newcastle’s Age Friendly partnership group and the UK Network of Age Friendly Communities https://ageing-better.org.uk/uk-network-age-friendly-communities. 

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