In 1951, we (then known as Hampshire Council of Social Services – HCSS) set up a countywide old people’s welfare committee in response to a growing number of older people without family support, due to the impact of WWII.
With the development of the welfare state, more funds became available to support work with older people.
HCSS’s countywide work provided support to many local committees
- by 1955, 20 committees;
- by 1958 40 committees
It also supported a new wave of organisations and clubs specialising in support to older people (only a few in 1951, up to over 100 in 1955, 206 in 1958, 220 by 1961) by acting as a “channel of information”, gathering these clubs quarterly.
The committee helped to coordinate organisations supporting older people, and also sought to identify innovative ways to support the growing number of older people including supporting ‘adopt a grandparent’ type campaigns, our innovative chiropody service SEE IMPACT 7) – and various other innovations. We also helped to organise an annual low cost holiday for older people to Swanage. 120 went on the trip in 1955, which grew to 450 by 1961 and was of such interest it had to be restricted “to people from rural areas and individuals who did not belong to a club”.
In 1956, Portsmouth Evening News reported, that were now organising a “friendly visiting service” which “made contact with old people who, through illness or disability, were prevented from enjoying the activities of club programme”
We continued to develop local committees, and transformed from supporting older people directly into coordinating a growing number of specialise community organisations.
In 1959 we established an “old people’s welfare committee” to coordinate organisations supporting older people in Gosport, with the support of Gosport Community Association. Quoted in the Portsmouth Evening News, a rep from HCSS at the time said there was a need for more coordination because “There is too much overlapping, when we come down to studying the number of people served and the ways in which they are served”. HCSS would help the organisations identified “when necessary and to advise when asked to advise”. 16 joined the initial scoping activity, which then also sought to actively identify the “many old people in Gosport not in touch with any voluntary organisations” Gosport was one of the last parts of the country to get one.
In 1959, we also established the first training course for VCSEs wanting to support older people, to “improve the standard”. Recognising the value of this approach, HCC recommended the course be replicated in 16 locations across the county.
Over the 70s and 80s, many local older people’s welfare committees transformed into independent charities, using the name Age Concern (following the National Old People’s Welfare Committee). In Hampshire, the committee took this name in the 70s and by 1985 had established as its own charity, Age Concern Hampshire, having been nurtured to independence by HSCC.
Today, Age Concern Hampshire continue to support older people across Hampshire.
Last year they responded to over 1,500 calls, provided 1,676 day care sessions and provided 3,170 hours of service to older people in rural villages through the Village Agents service set up by Action Hampshire many years ago.
Sources:
Evening Standard, 1955
Evening News, 1959
Reading Standard, 1961
