Book of You Up and Running in South West England with Transform Ageing

Book of You is now up and running in the south west of England, namely Devon, Cornwall and Somerset. We have been supported in this step by Transform Ageing. Transform Ageing, funded by the Big Lottery Fund, is a pioneering programme taking a community and design led approach to improve people’s experience of ageing. It brings together people in later life, their friends, family and carers, social entrepreneurs and public sector leaders to define, develop and deliver new solutions that better support the needs and aspirations of our ageing communities.

Last month, we welcomed our new Business Development Manager in that area, Sara Burgess. Sara has most recently worked for Devon County Council Care and Health Commissioning in the Business Relations Team and was a Statuary Office Holder at Senior Civil Service level. She also has a significant background in management and senior management across a diverse portfolio covering large national and small local charities working with people in need and organisations supporting them.

We will be supporting Sara and her new team as they set up and replicate our Welsh business model in the south west and are very excited about helping more older people and people living with dementia in parts of the country we’ve not yet covered.

We ran our first volunteer training day on 29th June with Age UK Exeter where staff were able to learn about Book of You, how the app works, become Dementia Friends and it was a very enjoyable day with everyone very enthusiastic about starting work with their clients. The photograph shows Sarah and her first group of volunteers when they’d become Dementia Friends.

If you, or someone you care for lives within the Devon, Cornwall or Somerset area and would be interested in learning more about Book of You and how we can help older people, please get in touch with our head office on 01492 555381 or by emailing info@bookofyou.co.uk and we will be happy to provide more details.