ELDERS AREN’T JUST OLDER – THEY’RE WISER. IN A GOOD SOCIETY, OLDER PEOPLE ARE RESPECTED FOR THEIR EXPERIENCE, FOR THEIR KNOWLEDGE AND FOR EVERYTHING THEY CAN TEACH US.
“I am not the same person who joined The Elders on that very first day. Nothing else I do in my activities or, indeed, have done in the past has brought my new found confidence I am now experiencing. I want to shout from the rooftops, ‘look out world, here I come.’ And if I can do it, so can you.”
The Elders is for older people in Greater Manchester who want to feel connected to new people and ideas, be creative and challenge the stereotypes of ageing.
The first step to becoming involved with the Elders is to take part in one of our regular Elders Mondays events (currently taking place online).
We also have an Elders Company. The 2019/2020 Elders Company took part in a year long programme to develop their creative and theatre-making skills. This culminated with the creation of A FUNNY THING HAPPENED IN ISOLATION, a new mocumentary following a local theatre group as they tackle lockdown narrated by Julie Hesmondhalgh.
Graduates of previous year’s Companies continue to take part with us in special projects including as Leaders and by taking part in our intergenerational projects alongside our Young Company.
In 2019 we hosted our third Elders Exchange Day to celebrate older people as makers and artists. Plans for Elders Exchange Day in 2020 were disrupted due to Covid and we are currently reviewing when we can next host Elders Exchange Day.
The Royal Exchange Elders programme is proudly associated with Age Friendly Manchester and the GM Ageing Hub. In 2019, we also led the Manchester Culture Champions programme.