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COPE (Cambridge Older People’s Enterprise): Standing up for older people in Cambridgeshire




David Bailey, the retiring chair of COPE (Cambridge Older People’s Enterprise), says the charity is playing an important role in helping to combat loneliness and give a voice to members.

He and other team members enjoyed the charity’s Christmas lunch on Monday (16 December) at the Park Restaurant, Cambridge Regional College.

David Bailey is retiring as chair of trustees at COPE. Picture: Keith Heppell
David Bailey is retiring as chair of trustees at COPE. Picture: Keith Heppell

David, 91, who has held the role as chair since 2016 and been involved with COPE since its foundation in 2003, said: “It was set up by the councils, the county and city, as a millennium project in 2000.

“But then they put it out for private ownership in 2003, where it was then run by everybody, with the financial support from the councils.

“But that is now drying up and we’re having to look for funding from elsewhere.

“It is our biggest concern, the funding, because with 2,900 odd members, we need to keep in touch, and we do that with a 20-page newsletter which is issued bi-monthly – and that does cost us money. Plus, establishing our office to operate the charity.”

COPE represents the older people of Cambridgeshire, ensuring their voices are heard. To that end, the newsletter provides information about, among other things, health and welfare, benefits for winter fuel, bus services, and the planned cancellation of cheques (later rescinded by the banks).

Membership to the charity is free and open to anyone aged 50 or over in Cambridgeshire.

David, who was brought up in Cambridge, notes that “20 per cent of the population of Cambridgeshire is over 60”, adding: “It’s the forgotten part of society, almost.

“A lot of social security, social provision, is being cancelled these days, and 20 per cent of older people are lonely – extremely lonely in many cases – and 40 per cent are often lonely.

“So it is a big worry, and this is what we try and prevent.”

On how things have changed for older people since 2003, David said: “Over-bureaucratisation, I should say… digitalisation is leaving older people out in the cold.

“So many people are just not able to cope with the fact that everything is with an app or on a smartphone, or you have to have a laptop.

“Large numbers of older people can’t afford to buy a smartphone and secondly are not able to use it.

“We’ve had members who have at one time or another worked in computers so they have some knowledge, but when they get older their eyesight and their thought capacity changes and so on – they can’t cope with the computerisation.”

From left, Barbara Oliver, Brian Reynolds, Jennie Jenks, Peter Murkitt, Sonia Leach and David Bailey. Picture: Keith Heppell
From left, Barbara Oliver, Brian Reynolds, Jennie Jenks, Peter Murkitt, Sonia Leach and David Bailey. Picture: Keith Heppell

So has society got more challenging for older people since 2003?

“Yes,” replied David, “because in theory it should be better but in practice it doesn’t seem to work.

“There are so many things. I have written to councils throughout the county saying ‘Would you please, in your advertising and social services and other facilities for older people, put in a telephone number and not just the website?’

“I wrote to seven councils – district and county – in Cambridgeshire. Only one replied.

“Another one replied a year after I’d written, and one even had the temerity to say ‘You should get the telephone number from our website’, which defeats the whole object!”

And when they do find a telephone number, David says that many people lose patience with automated systems demanding you ‘press one for this, press two for this’ and so on.

“So many of my members say ‘I just can’t be bothered to sit there and wait to go through all this hassle. I’m told I’m number 20 in the queue…’ So it’s a problem that faces many older people.”

Other major concerns affecting older people include long waiting times for NHS treatment, being hit by people on bikes or electric scooters, and the fear of scammers.

David added: “The other problem we’ve got is the fact that so many people are just doing a four-day week – especially councils.

“I went for a meeting earlier this year at one of the councils, with people who were willing to help us in our fundraising at the council office – and it was one of their closed days.

“But the office building was lit up… all this capacity, nobody doing anything, and you think ‘Well they’re wasting taxpayers’ money’.”

A former businessman, David has worked abroad and in the UK.

“As a businessman, I find that the whole country is not working properly,” he said. “It’s all committees, it’s all having to do risk assessments.

“OK, you have to think about what you’re doing, making sure it doesn’t affect people in any way, but the fact that everybody has to do a risk assessment means they eventually find they don’t do anything. There’s no positivity about it…”

Older people also have concerns for their grandchildren’s future, he added.

“In Cambridgeshire, we’ve got this problem of we’re now the fastest-growing area in the country and we’re being asked to build even more houses.

“Cambridgeshire is basically an agricultural county, providing a large proportion of food for the country as a whole, and we’re being told to give up all this agricultural land for solar farms and housing – and we haven’t got the infrastructure, the water especially, to do so. And older people are worried for the future of their grandchildren.”

Despite these issues affecting its members, the charity has positive achievements to celebrate.

“The fact is that we’ve kept going and we’ve increased the membership,” said David.

“We’ve now got over 2,900 members, we’ve just opened a social group in the town of March and we have a very active social group in St Ives and in Queen Edith’s in Cambridge…

“We are very active and the newsletter has kept people in touch and kept them informed as to what’s going on, and entertained in many ways.”

David Bailey is retiring as chair of trustees at COPE, seen here at their Christmas lunch at Park Restaurant at Cambridge Regional College. Picture: Keith Heppell
David Bailey is retiring as chair of trustees at COPE, seen here at their Christmas lunch at Park Restaurant at Cambridge Regional College. Picture: Keith Heppell

David is also proud of the fact that the office was kept open “as far as we could” during Covid, “and ensured that all of our members were phoned to ensure that they were all right, which they appreciated greatly”.

COPE’s office can be found within St Luke’s Community Centre in Victoria Road, Cambridge.

For more information on COPE, call 01223 364303 between 10am and 1pm or leave an answerphone message, email cambridgecope@hotmail.co.uk, or visit copecambs.org.uk/index.html.



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