Active Kent & Medway is committed to ensuring all residents across Kent and Medway live longer better. We’re proud supporters of the national Live Longer Better Revolution.
Since April 2021, through our local active ageing programme, we’ve worked collaboratively with a range of partners including local authorities, charities, leisure providers and health stakeholders, to enable people to live longer better, reduce the need for health and social care and reverse the effects of lockdown.
Since joining the revolution, we’ve supported 70 older people projects across Kent and Medway, awarding over £190,000 in total to local organisations and engaging around 6,700 participants (aged 50+).
- 100% of organisations said their community now have more opportunities to be active.
- 62% of organisations said their community have more confidence to be active.
- 85% of organisations said the project helped their local community manage their mental health.
“I joined the class after being ill in hospital and increased my upper body strength and my overall fitness. My osteopath was impressed with the difference the class has made to my physical abilities. This class has made such a huge difference to my physical and mental wellbeing.” Participant (Age 67)
“I knew I had to do something. And I knew that in time I was going to end up in a wheelchair and anything I could do to slow down or stop it, I should do. So I decided to try BoxFit for Parkinson’s because I hadn’t tried it before, and I came along and loved it.” Participant (Age 73)
To support our active ageing programme, we have a Live Longer Better Network here in Kent, which currently boasts over 110 members. We’ve coordinated five networking events bringing members together to hear from guest speakers and share knowledge, experiences and learnings.
“The network is an opportunity to connect with other members so we can collaborate and build elements of live longer better into our projects.” Live Longer Better Network Member
“The last few years has shown that through collaboration and partnership working, we can support local residents to increase activity levels, reduce dependency and improve mental health. We will continue to build on our active ageing programme, work with local partners and support everyone to live longer better. If you’re a strategic lead or a front line worker supporting older people in Kent and Medway, we invite you to join our local Live Longer Better Network and keep up to date with the Live Longer Better Revolution.” Elise Rendall, Physical Activity Manager (Health & Wellbeing Lead), Active Kent & Medway
