Blog from Eddie – Silverfit Founder
Hi all,
Sorry that it’s been a few months since my last update.
We ended 2022 with various Silverfit Christmas parties at different venues and it was lovely to see all the photos of our members celebrating together.
This year started with the beginning of our merger with AgeUK Camden and establishing our working relationship with them. We will keep you in the loop on their coffee mornings, book groups and opportunities to meet up in the borough of Camden. As the author of ‘Irongran’ I gave a talk at one of their regular book groups at the British Library, close to Euston station. That was fun, and AgeUK Camden members who have only recently heard of us, are so appreciative of what we are offering in Silverfit.
My 80th birthday today!
Wow, I can’t quite believe I have reached that magic figure today. After 45 yrs. of social work, I didn’t start at physical activity till I was 52yrs. This was a key factor in a decision, as part of the 2012 London Olympic Legacy, to set up Silverfit charity, promoting healthier, happier ageing – never too late to get that bit more active, and crucially have FUN. So, I will be the oldest women ever to be one of a relay team of four women, undertaking Race Across America, 3000 miles from West coast to East Of USA, start date 13.6.23, with only nine days before being cut off. I am sure Natalie will find a way to monitor our progress and keep you UpToDate! We’ll be raising funds for Silverfit.
Funding
Unfortunately, we have faced quite a difficult time recently with our applications for funding not being as successful as we’d hoped. There is tremendous competition out there and pots are getting smaller to share around between various charities. This means that we have had to reluctantly close some of our sessions and may have to look at other session closures in future.
We once again ask for your help to ‘Keep Silverfit Healthy’ by donating whatever you can towards Silverfit running costs: https://justgiving.com/campaign/keepsilverfithealthy If you aren’t able to donate yourself, please share the link with friends and family and let them know about your time with Silverfit and what you enjoy about our sessions. We really want to keep as many sessions running as possible as we know how important they are for our members’ health as well as the long-lasting friendships you have all made.
Attendance fees and annual membership
Silverfit has utilised both Typeform and Eventbrite as our booking systems for some time now and whilst they have both been extremely useful over the past few years, we have found a new website TicketTailor which is a much better fit. It will allow us to not only charge for our sessions where appropriate but also to take in donations as well. It allows attendees to book in advance and not be restricted to the time constraints of Typeform. We have tried TicketTailor with Tai Chi at Crystal Palace so far and it has worked well, and we will be adding Whitton and Kingston venues in the upcoming weeks.
We hope to get all sessions up onto TicketTailor in due course, and project managers will let you know beforehand when your session will be available to book via this platform. We have also been working hard on reviving our annual Silverfit membership system and hope to implement that shortly.
Thank-you.
And finally mega thanks to all our staff, volunteers, members and Trustees for their support, enthusiasm, and commitment to Silverfit. It hasn’t been the easiest of times! Also, thanks go to our partners Better/GLL and funders.
Best wishes,
Eddie Brocklesby.
