The UK’s population is undergoing a big age shift with the population share of later life age groups increasing. The Humber is no different - we have an ageing population, a higher than national average of people aged over 55 and in addition a larger proportion of our older population are considered inactive.
At Active Humber we recognise the challenges this presents and the impact of inactivity on the health of older people. We are developing our Active Ageing activity offer to support those less able to become physically active to reduce social isolation, enable independence and improve physical and emotional wellbeing, and we are working with new and existing partners to upskill staff, volunteers, physical activity deliverers to support more physical activity opportunities for older people; to ultimately nurture a culture of active living.
In April 2020 we started a brand new programme - Get Out Get Active (GOGA), a 3 year programme to support the least active 55-74 year olds across North & North East Lincolnshire to become more physically active. Funded by our national partner The Activity Alliance, we will be working in Barton upon Humber and surrounding villages in North Lincolnshire, and across different communities in North East Lincolnshire to develop an inclusive approach to advocating physical activity by breaking down barriers, developing more local volunteers and supporting activity in areas where there is currently less opportunities to be active.
COVID-19 has had a big impact on the activity levels of older people, therefore during this time Active Humber have provided online stay active at home ideas and messages to encourage people to be active in their own homes/environments. In addition we have designed a stay active at home activity leaflet, providing key information and exercises older people can do in their own homes. With support from partners over 2500 were distributed across the Humber area.
As lockdown restrictions ease we will continue to to develop our Active Ageing offer across the Humber; tackling the inequality many older people face to being active. We will be developing new physical activity opportunities through the Get Out Get Active programme and supporting key partners to access funding to support the development of localised opportunities for this key audience to become more physically active.
The Get Out Get Active (GOGA) activity leaflet is available to download below.
