Five Stockport neighbourhoods have been honoured at an awards ceremony, hosted by Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, as part of the Age-Friendly Neighbourhoods Challenge.
Brinnington, Cheadle, The Heatons, Marple and Reddish were all recognised as being age-friendly: defined as a place where residents are committed to looking out for each other, older people feel they can have a say in what’s going on in their local area, and there are spaces where people can get together.
53 neighbourhoods across Greater Manchester have been recognised as age-friendly or making progress towards recognition since the challenge launched in 2018.
Mayor Andy Burnham said:
I launched this challenge in 2018 to unearth the positive work I know is going on in Greater Manchester, to find practical examples of what age-friendly really means, and to share best practice across the city-region.
“The response to this challenge has been fantastic. The variety of age-friendly work displayed from all our winners clearly shows the commitment from our local communities to make sure that people in Greater Manchester are living not just longer, but happier and healthier too.”
Dr. James Higgins, a GP at Brinnington Health Centre, said
Stockport has an older than average population so it’s really important that we make it an age friendly place to live in.
“We’re proud that the hard work our community and patients have put in to improve the lives of older people in Brinnington has been recognised with this award.
“It is also great to see that, by working together with local charities and an army of wonderful volunteers, we can really help a community for the better.
“We’d like to congratulate the other four age friendly winners in Stockport. Together we’re helping to make the borough an even better place to grow old in.”
Cllr Jude Wells, Cabinet Member for Adult Care and Health and Assistant Portfolio lead for Age Friendly Greater Manchester, said:
It’s great to see local people, groups and organisations sharing their skills, talents and energy and coming together to make Brinnington, Cheadle, the Heatons, Marple and Reddish an even better place to live and grow older.”