International Day of Older People (IDOP) is celebrated each year on 01 October and has a different theme each year. This year’s theme is Linking Lives. 

We hope IDOP 2021 will bring people and communities together (literally and/or figuratively), raise awareness and celebrate the strength of the diversity of older people and communities across Leeds.  Supporting the ambition for Leeds to be the best city to grow old in.

Communities carry the stories, teachings and experiences of their elders; the inherited memories of what happened to people over many generations and the last year will be another chapter in the storytelling for many older people and diverse communities in our city. Everyone will have had a different experience and a different journey. 

The aim of IDOP Leeds is to ensure that the City of Leeds promotes and celebrates the International Day of Older Persons and promotes the values of:

  • a positive view of old age
  • older people being enabled to lead active healthy and involved lives as citizens of the city
  • full participation of older people in the decisions and processes which affect their lives
  • challenging the barriers faced by older people to independence, inclusion and equality
  • older people being treated with respect and dignity at all times

IDOP in Leeds is organised by our partner Leeds Older People’s Forum with the support of Leeds City Council Public Health, Leeds City Council Adult & Health Equality and Diversity, Leeds City Council Museums & Galleries, Leeds City Council Libraries and Information Service and older people themselves.

The following events are taking place across Leeds throughout September and October. Details are subject to change so please check directly with the organisers. You can also download a full programme of events here: IDOP programme.

Association of Blind Asians – Roundhay Park, 11-2pm

A picnic at Roundhay Park sharing different food from different parts of the world and sharing memories and stories from lockdown. This will be an opportunity to celebrate coming out of Covid restrictions and coping with returning to some kind of normality. A chance to enjoy the outdoors with nice food and company.

Hamara HLC – British Muslim Heritage Centre in Manchester

35 people aged 60+ from South Asian Communities and Neighbourhood Network groups will be offered an excursion to the British Muslim Heritage Centre in Manchester. They will enjoy the exhibits and get a chance to share memories/experiences.

SAGE/ LEEDS -MESMAC – Roundhay Park

A  series of storytelling opportunities for new members and to watch already existing video stories from our cooperation with Lippy People and with Queer Stories. We will be making short videos on the day to add to our video archive. Around 40 people are expected on the day from a variety of LGBTQ+ groups which is also meant as an opportunity to strengthen ties between these groups through sharing of resources and opportunities to reduce isolation and loneliness.

For more information: Keith Hargreaves at [email protected]

Rawdon Community Library – Micklefield Park, New Road Side, Rawdon, Leeds LS19  10am – 1pm

A display and activities in the Community Library around the theme of ‘All Our Yesterdays’ which will encourage people in the local community to come to the library, bring their grandchildren, meet people, reminisce, and bring in objects or photos relating to their earlier lives. Facilitators will be on hand to chat and talk to visitors. Personal photos or written memories will be photocopied (with the owner’s consent) and kept in the library’s Local History Room with a selection also being sent to the Leeds Older People’s Forum. It will be advertised on Facebook, Wharfedale Observer, library website and Newsletter, and by leaflets. On Friday 1st October there will be an open house where anyone can come and join us for cakes and coffee, and have a go at some fun activities and quizzes related to All Our Yesterdays.

Table displays will include:

  • Pre-decimal coins (and a quiz!),
  • Food memories – from fish and chips and roasts to Turkish, Chinese, and Thai cuisine, and fast foods
  • Children’s books then and now,
  • Crafts (French knitting anyone?)
  • Old gardening tools
  • Local old transport photos
  • Photos of old Leeds

For more information: www.facebook.com/Rawdon-Community-Library-135484629854125/

Wetherby in support of the Elderly – WISE – Bramham Village Hall, 2pm – 4pm

The social event is being held to bring the local community and nearby villages together. Also to provide information about the service, activities and advice that Wetherby in Support of the Elderly can offer to local people aged 60 plus and their families. To add to the enjoyment of the afternoon, entertainment will be provided along with refreshments and cakes.

For more information: Debbie Todd  / 0193 758 8994 /  [email protected] /  https://www.w-ise.org.uk/

Rawdon Community Library – Micklefield Park, New Road Side, Rawdon, Leeds LS19  2pm – 5pm

A display and activities in the Community Library around the theme of ‘All Our Yesterdays’ which will encourage people in the local community to come to the library, bring their grandchildren, meet people, reminisce, and bring in objects or photos relating to their earlier lives. Facilitators will be on hand to chat and talk to visitors. Personal photos or written memories will be photocopied (with the owner’s consent) and kept in the library’s Local History Room with a selection also being sent to the Leeds Older People’s Forum. It will be advertised on Facebook, Wharfedale Observer, library website and Newsletter, and by leaflets. On Friday 1st October there will be an open house where anyone can come and join us for cakes and coffee, and have a go at some fun activities and quizzes related to All Our Yesterdays.

Table displays will include:

  • Pre-decimal coins (and a quiz!),
  • Food memories – from fish and chips and roasts to Turkish, Chinese, and Thai cuisine, and fast foods
  • Children’s books then and now,
  • Crafts (French knitting anyone?)
  • Old gardening tools
  • Local old transport photos
  • Photos of old Leeds

For more information: www.facebook.com/Rawdon-Community-Library-135484629854125/

Rawdon Community Library – Micklefield Park, New Road Side, Rawdon, Leeds LS19  10am – 1pm

A display and activities in the Community Library around the theme of ‘All Our Yesterdays’ which will encourage people in the local community to come to the library, bring their grandchildren, meet people, reminisce, and bring in objects or photos relating to their earlier lives. Facilitators will be on hand to chat and talk to visitors. Personal photos or written memories will be photocopied (with the owner’s consent) and kept in the library’s Local History Room with a selection also being sent to the Leeds Older People’s Forum. It will be advertised on Facebook, Wharfedale Observer, library website and Newsletter, and by leaflets. On Friday 1st October there will be an open house where anyone can come and join us for cakes and coffee, and have a go at some fun activities and quizzes related to All Our Yesterdays.

Table displays will include:

  • Pre-decimal coins (and a quiz!),
  • Food memories – from fish and chips and roasts to Turkish, Chinese, and Thai cuisine, and fast foods
  • Children’s books then and now,
  • Crafts (French knitting anyone?)
  • Old gardening tools
  • Local old transport photos
  • Photos of old Leeds

For more information: www.facebook.com/Rawdon-Community-Library-135484629854125/

The Conservation Volunteers, The Great Outdoors Project – Ramblings. – Roundhay Park, 11am – 2pm

Great Outdoors members will be walking and talking about re-emerging and reconnecting after lockdown. Includes refreshments. Conversations will only be recorded with permission.

Rawdon Community Library – Micklefield Park, New Road Side, Rawdon, Leeds LS19  10am – 1pm

A display and activities in the Community Library around the theme of ‘All Our Yesterdays’ which will encourage people in the local community to come to the library, bring their grandchildren, meet people, reminisce, and bring in objects or photos relating to their earlier lives. Facilitators will be on hand to chat and talk to visitors. Personal photos or written memories will be photocopied (with the owner’s consent) and kept in the library’s Local History Room with a selection also being sent to the Leeds Older People’s Forum. It will be advertised on Facebook, Wharfedale Observer, library website and Newsletter, and by leaflets. On Friday 1st October there will be an open house where anyone can come and join us for cakes and coffee, and have a go at some fun activities and quizzes related to All Our Yesterdays.

Table displays will include:

  • Pre-decimal coins (and a quiz!),
  • Food memories – from fish and chips and roasts to Turkish, Chinese, and Thai cuisine, and fast foods
  • Children’s books then and now,
  • Crafts (French knitting anyone?)
  • Old gardening tools
  • Local old transport photos
  • Photos of old Leeds

For more information: https://www.facebook.com/Rawdon-Community-Library-135484629854125/

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Sumangal Group – Montague Burton day resource centre from 10.30 to 2.30pm

An event to share memories and stories. An opportunity for older people to share their stories with other people of  first year memories in the UK.  They can share about their first experience of everything in this country,  their lifestyle when they had young families and their food recipes from their young lives.

We will also have a Bollywood dance activity and a laughter activity where older people can join or learn the dance. 

***

Belle Isle Senior Action – 59 Club, 59 Belle Isle Circus, Belle Isle, Leeds LS10 3DU –  11.30am – 3pm

‘Belle Isle Senior Action’s Celebration Day’ – an afternoon of connections, reconnections, talks (suggestions include the impact of Covid on Older People, Bereavement Support and Digital Inclusion), film clips, refreshments and entertainment. Home packs also available for those not wanting to come to a public event and transport available too. The event is open to all aged 60+, new and existing members.

For more information, please contact Paul on 07748 218 014

Holocaust Survivors’ Friendship Association – MAZZC (Majorie and Arnold Ziff Community Centre), 311 Stonegate Road, Moortown, Leeds, LS17 6A

An afternoon get-together for Holocaust survivors in Leeds and staff of the Holocaust Survivors’ Friendship Association. The aim is to create a context for them to reconnect after the worst moments of the ongoing Covid pandemic. The event will revolve around stories from the pre- and post-Holocaust period, focusing particularly on their arrival in the North of England as refugees and how their successes in becoming members of local communities.

For more information: Alessandro Bucci / 0770 105 1673 / http://holocaustlearning.org.uk/

Rawdon Community Library – Micklefield Park, New Road Side, Rawdon, Leeds LS19  10am – 5pm

Older people will be invited to come along for refreshments and cakes, meet each other and even take part in some memory joggers and quizzes.

For more information: https://www.facebook.com/Rawdon-Community-Library-135484629854125/

ASHA neighbourhood project – Putney Country park Wakefield

Asha Neighbourhood Project is arranging a picnic for local older people and some younger women from the Asha Peer Group. This will be an afternoon of conversations, memories, reflections and life stories shared alongside delicious picnic foods.

Collingham and Linton Remembers Brigham, School Lane, 10.30am – 12pm

A ‘Coffee and Chat’  and an evening event where old photographs will stimulate the memories from older residents. It is hoped that a local historiann will collate photos and memories and lay them out in a book format to be printed in the New Year, helping to spark many more conversations.

For more information: [email protected]

Indian Women Association, Ramgariah Board Gurdwara,  9-11 Chapeltown Road, 11am – 12pm.

We will be collecting memoirs and stories which influenced older people’s life and want to celebrate their achievements and talents.

Circles of Life Together Women / Circles of Life Voice of Men, Scarcroft Village Hall Leeds LS14 3BN, 1pm – 4pm

We are planning to come together to see each other after a long period of time not seeing each other face to face. Our activities will be singing folk songs from native countries using cultural instruments and reminiscing  of childhood experiences and the differences in the western world and the great barriers faced such as language and cultural differences. Raising awareness of how people from different countries can keep their cultural identity and integrate into a local society. A way of interacting and engaging with our community is through food from different countries which often gets conversations going. We will be encouraging in a safe way some dancing styles from each country.  Everyone will be encouraged to bring their family members along to share this exciting story telling experience and share the journeys together.

SIKH ELDERS SERVICE – TOUCHSTONE – Guru Nanak Nishkam Sewak Jatha (Leeds) UK, 78 Lady Pit Lane, LS11 6DP

Intergenerational connection and story sharing about positively aging in Leeds by sharing  Sikh Elders careers as Professors, Dr’s, teachers, Lab technicians, factory workers to children. This would provide an opportunity for older people  to engage in their community after being in lockdown since March 2020. This afternoon would be an exciting new community development and an opportunity to share  stories about positive aging with young people.