Age Friendly Banbury pop-up on International Day of Older Persons

By 2030, the number of people aged over 60 will outnumber young people globally. The International Day of Older Persons is an opportunity to highlight the important contributions that older people make to society and raise awareness of the opportunities and challenges of ageing in today’s world. Age-Friendly Banbury is a joint initiative to make Banbury a great place to grow older.

The partnership welcomes older residents to come and find them in their pop-up at Banbury market from 9am to 2pm on Thursday 1st October and pick up a free goodie bag. The tote bags will include information from Age-Friendly Banbury partners, winter warmth advice, activity sheets, directory of useful organisations, purse bells, and other goodies including an Age-Friendly Banbury pin, as presented to HRH Duchess of Cornwall when she visited at the start of the year.

Launching at the same time is the Age-Friendly Banbury Pledge for businesses in Banbury. Organisations displaying the Age-Friendly Banbury logo in their premises will signal their commitment to making their premises and practices age-friendly.

Bee Myson, Age-Friendly Banbury coordinator, is excited about the event: “In these challenging times, it is wonderful to be able to offer some practical support to local residents. The International Day of Older Persons falling on the Banbury market day seemed an opportunity too good to miss. We are also delighted that the High Sheriff of Oxfordshire, Amanda Ponsonby, will be visiting us on Thursday to support our event.”

About Age-Friendly Banbury

• Age Friendly Banbury is a partnership between local organisations with an interest in making Banbury an age-friendly town. It brings together older people, community leaders, local charities, businesses, and local councils.

• In the UK, there are 40 age-friendly cities, towns, districts and counties working together to share learning and promote age-friendly practices. An age-friendly town encompasses both the built environment, such as housing, transport and outdoor spaces and the social environment, such as health and information services, civic participation and social activities.
  By offering a joined-up approach to social action specific to Banbury, it is hoped that older people will have more opportunities to flourish.

• Between 2017 and 2030, the number of persons aged 60 years or over is projected to grow by 46 per cent (from 962 million to 1.4 billion) globally outnumbering youth, as well as children under the age of 10. Moreover, this increase will be the greatest and most rapid in the developing world. Population ageing is poised to become one of the most significant social transformations of the 21st century.