Exciting initiative to support and grow Age Friendly work

A new community interest company (CIC) has been formed to help develop and grow the work that supports Melksham’s Age Friendly status.

In 2018, Melksham officially become the first rural town to join the UK Network of Age Friendly Communities – working towards making changes and improvements to ensure that people of all ages can actively participate in the community.

The newly-formed Age Friendly Melksham CIC will help to continue this work by supporting people who are socially isolated, developing social activities for people in the community, encouraging inter-generational work in the community, and promoting and encouraging the development of the town’s Age Friendly status.

At its inaugural meeting, the directors of the new CIC, appointed Jon Hubbard as the chair of Age Friendly Melksham CIC. Speaking afterwards Jon commented, “This is a really exiting initiative that has been established to develop and expand the offer available to people of all ages in the Melksham Community Area.

“There are already a number of groups and organisations that are working with and support people in our community, and it is our intention to work alongside these excellent groups to bolster and expand the reach of their work.

“We have found many examples of people who are still socially isolated and we want to work with them and all of the groups who are offering fantastic opportunities for them to participate in the area, so that everyone fully feels that they are part of the Melksham Community Area.”

The new CIC will also be supported by vice-chair Chris Pickett, who is also Melksham’s Older People’s Champion; Sue Mortimer, who is known to many for her work with Melksham Community Meals, will manage the CIC’s finances; in charge of fundraising will be volunteer Saffi Rabey; and the company secretary will be Wayne Stansby.

Age Friendly Melksham CIC’s mission statement says, “Our mission at Age Friendly Melksham is to facilitate that everyone can participate in society. We believe that every person has a role to play in our community, where their age is simply a number not a hurdle.  Working with friends, colleagues, peers and professionals we want everyone in our community to be involved, heard and valued.”