The Leveson Centre for the Study of Ageing,
Spirituality and Social Policy
The Hidden Store - the contributions
of older people to rural communities
This report, written by Nick Le Mesurier, Research Fellow at Birmingham
University, for Age Concern England, and which formed the basis of
a paper presented to the Leveson Centre for the Study of Ageing, Spirituality
and Social Policy in June 2003, considers the characteristics of older
people in the English countryside and the experience of Age Concern
in providing services for and with them. It reviews the literature
on older people in rural communities, and finds that, where they are
mentioned at all, it is usually between the lines and in the margins
of most studies of rural society. This in spite of the fact that the
English countryside contains a higher proportion of older people than
urban areas, and that many voluntary services which help to maintain
social capital in the countryside are run for and by older people
themselves.
Age Concern is
the largest voluntary organisation working with older people in the
countryside. The report draws upon fieldwork with the organisation
to discuss the experience of ageing in the countryside. It examines
the challenges facing agencies in addressing problems of sparsity
and distance, and presents some examples of innovative practice. It
focuses particularly on the nature of social capital and its relevance
to health, concluding that many voluntary services for older people
have benefits that go beyond the immediate welfare of individuals
to include the health and welfare of the whole community.
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(Adobe Acrobat Format, 345kb)
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