History of Age UK Somerset

It was back on 19^th November 1948 that the Somerset Older People’s Welfare Committee met for the first time.

This was a group of organisations sharing the same aim - to improve life for older people in Somerset.  Since then there have been several name changes - to Age Concern Somerset in 1971 to Age UK Somerset in 2010 - but in 75 years our aim remains the same.

Age UK Somerset is independent local Charity and the largest charity supporting our older people across all the towns, villages and city of Somerset and North Somerset. We help older people to enjoy their later years through the services and activities we offer.  

At the beginning these services included organising group holidays, arranging cheap bulk purchases of Marmite, lending out heaters to prevent hyperthermia and a chiropody service.  Today the holidays and marmite orders have gone, but through grants to help with heating bills the charity still helps people stay warm in the winter, we provide a Toenail Cutting service to approximately 1,200 clients and in addition, offer a Wellbeing Service to help those effected by loneliness; a free Information & Advice service; support for people living with Dementia; Benefits Claims support with Volunteers helping to complete tricky forms (bringing more than £3m into the local economy last year through successful claims); we run more than 75 Ageing Well exercise and activity sessions all across Somerset and North Somerset every week to bring people together for fun and gentle exercise and we also have a dedicated Falls Prevention team which run sessions to improve strength and balance. 

The Charity has always depended on volunteers.

Currently we have a 390 strong team of Volunteers providing support to older people across all of Somerset and North Somerset.  With a growth in demand for our services, we are constantly looking for new Volunteers such as with our Walk and Talk service where a Volunteer will meet a local older person each week to provide companionship on a gentle walk. We cherish every volunteer and, with the support of local businesses, organise many “Thank You” events each year as our way of showing our appreciation.