AGE Friendly Island celebrated five years of working to make the Isle of Wight a great place to grow old at their Legacy and Learning event.

The evening, held at Lakeside Park Hotel in Wootton Bridge in September, saw more than 100 guests from across the Island’s statutory and charitable sectors come together to look back at five years of achievements.

John Metcalfe, chief executive of the Isle of Wight Council, led the celebrations with his keynote address, emphasising how age friendly practices and training have been embedded within the Isle of Wight Council.

Ange Jones, Age Friendly communities manager at the Centre for Ageing Better, spoke of how the Isle of Wight, and the work of Age Friendly Island, is regarded as a beacon of excellence within the UK network of age-friendly communities.

A further highlight was the presentation of Age Friendly Charters to Isle of Wight Council, HMP IW, WightFibre, Wessex Cancer Trust, and Nine Acres Primary School by Geoff Underwood, IW High Sheriff.

Emma Lincoln, Age Friendly Island team leader, said: “Age Friendly is about shifting cultural attitudes and influencing policy and strategy change to support our older Islanders, and we now have clear evidence of this happening across the Island.

“I am delighted with how organisations are thinking about the needs of older people.”

Age Friendly Island is part of Ageing Better, a programme set up by The National Lottery Community Fund, the largest funder of community activity in the UK.

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