The Grateful Society
The Grateful Society is a Bristol charity which supports elderly people within the city and surrounding area. Whilst our support is primarily financial, we do also take time to regularly interact with our service providers to ensure that the funding we provide is properly used to the maximum benefit. This is essential when central and local government funding continues to reduce, while the elderly population continues to increase significantly. This cannot be ignored.
Organisations we support
View some of the organisations we work with…
What we’ve been up to
Find out more about how we’ve been making a difference.
Young at Heart Club
The Young at Heart Club recently enjoyed a visit from the Brigstowe Band.
The Harbour
Bhupinder recently visited The Harbour, meeting with the CEO Natasha to find out more about their work. She learned how their specialist counselling supports the mental wellbeing and independence of older people in Bristol. Bhupinder says “After visiting The Harbour I now understand better how your specialist counselling service supports the mental well-being of older people […]
Chinese Community Wellbeing Society
Our President Bhupinder recently visited the Chinese Community Wellbeing Society’s educational seminar on health issues followed by a healthy lunch. Bhupinder says “It was an inspiring event. It was good to meet the helpers serving the meals, board members and to see the Chair and voluntary translators interacting with the participants. It was a very useful and […]
Why Support Us
Issues confronting older people in our city and surrounding areas are becoming more and more prevalent. The number of older people in the UK aged over 85 has increased by 30% over the last decade, and this is predicted to more than double over the next two decades. Research confirms there are nearly 1.2 million older people who do not receive the help they need with essential daily living activities. This figure is up 17.9% on 2016.
The Grateful Society has been able to make a difference on a local level. This year we have stepped up our focus towards combating loneliness and isolation. Loneliness is an increasingly wide spread problem which can result in depressive illness and the early onset of dementia. We have been addressing this by:
- Intensifying our support to community day centres which are in danger of closure. We have engaged with, and supported a further 3 centres meaning we now support 20 centres across the region. Subsequently we have improved the lives of some 550 older people, through carefully considered investment of over £80,000.
- Working with amazing local charitable organisations to facilitate and fund more interactive workshops at the residential care and community centres we support. £25,000 was strategically distributed to these causes which enabled over 120 meaningful activity workshops across 20 day centres and 5 care homes.
- Widening access to these sessions by funding community transport and outreach programmes.
- Continuing the provision of annuities and grants to older people enabling them to maintain dignity and independence while remaining able to live at home. The Grateful Society is a Bristol charity now in its 259th year and our 2017 appeal comes at a time when Social Services budget cuts are most pervasive. Whilst the economy has shown glimmers of recovery, the fact remains that it will be some time before any reversal of cuts are likely.
What We’re Looking For
We love helping out as much as possible. We’re always looking for new organisations who support older people by combatting loneliness whilst improving their wellbeing and independence.