Glencora

The Glencora Fund is a donor-led fund focusing on projects that support older people to help them become more independent and engaged with their communities.

Sometimes relatively small grants that are well targeted can work wonders, and Glencora has made a terrific difference to local Worcestershire organisations that support older people with a range of issues.

Each year, Glencora aims to address a new set of issues affecting older people, then provides small grants generally as capital funding to get projects for this demographic off the ground and make a real step-change to enhance their lives.

In 2017 the Glencora Fund provided grants to village halls to help them to encourage people who would otherwise be isolated, to join in with community activities.

2018: Dementia Friendly Village Halls

People with dementia should be active members of local communities and in villages, and village halls which sit at the heart of small, rural communities are vital to this cause.

WCF worked with the University of Worcester, Malvern Dementia Action Alliance and Community First on a ground-breaking scheme to make village halls ‘dementia friendly’.

The University developed a toolkit, and the Dementia Action Alliance is supporting halls to make changes not only to the physical layout of their building but also in attitudes and ways of working. The toolkit has been successfully created and trialled and may be distributed more widely across Herefordshire and Worcestershire. There is also potential to roll out the project on a national level.

2019: Supporting older people creatively, innovatively and practically with projects which:

• Maintained meaningful engagement
• Encouraged creative and cultural participation
• Delivered physical activity
• Helped develop thinking skills