Vintage Vibes

🎄 Cards at Parliament! 🎄 We are so grateful that so many MSPs took time out of their busy schedules at The Scottish Parliament yesterday to hear more about our work tackling isolation in Edinburgh’s older people, and to write Christmas cards to members of our community who will spend most of the festive period alone. We were delighted to have really positive conversations with MSPs from all parties and want to give a special thanks to Jeremy Balfour MSP, Co-chair of the CPG for Volunteering, for hosting our wee event. It was great! Members of the public can still get involved in our Christmas card project until 10th December by going to our website so sign up now! 💛🎄💛 #Edinburgh #Scotland #christmas #endloneliness #charity #festive

Yay! Our first card received! Antonia was our first Christmas card writer to deliver her card to us this year - though in fairness she did have an advantage, her lovely son Jamie is volunteering with us in the office at the moment! If you would like to send a Christmas card to someone who is isolated in Edinburgh this Christmas go to vintagevibes.org.uk to download a profile 💛 #Edinburgh #volunteer #Scotland #endloneliness #community #charity #festive #christmas #love #friendship

How to make a difference this Christmas? Our Christmas Card Appeal is back! 🎄❤️ Send a Christmas card to a specific isolated older person in Edinburgh facing spending Christmas alone. Help us to make them feel valued and remembered this festive period - from Tom who likes photography to Shelia (pictured) who loves Love Island. To bring someone some smiles this Christmas, simply: 😍 Visit our donate page at https://lnkd.in/dtXfVa-r and add ‘send a card’ to your basket. 😊 You will then receive your VIP profile and guidelines to explain how to write your card and return it to us in time to get it to your VIP and bring a smile for Christmas. 📷 Take a screen shot of your profile as a new profile will appear when the page refreshes. ✍ Then write your lovely Christmas message and return your card to us no later than Tuesday 10th December (last post Friday 6th December). 🎁 You can also add an extra gift to your donate basket from treating a VIP to tea & cake or even a festive meal! Thank you so much for you support and together let's bring a little festive cheer this year! 🥰 #Edinburgh #volunteer #Scotland #endloneliness #community #charity #wellbeing #olderpeople #joy #christmas #festive

What are we about? This. This is what we’re about… Friendship Fun A new interest in life Wellbeing New worlds opened up Connection Company Community …and a wee bit singing, films and food. But let’s be honest, there’s more to that than meets the eye. It’s about individuals empowered to be physically active again now they feel part of a community. It’s about local people being inspired to better self manage multiple health challenges in order that they can get to that group they now love attending each week. It’s about having that reason to learn how to use your computer or phone because you want to stay digitally connected to your new friends when you are restricted due to illness. It’s about building confidence to use public transport for the first time in years because now you have a friend to meet you at the other end. It’s about cooking and eating a full, nutritious meal again, because you finally have someone to share it with. It’s about someone noticing when things have started to go downhill for you and encouraging you to access support, because you now have someone who cares. It’s about having a voice when you felt completely invisible. …It’s about improved mental health, falls reduction, better nutrition, more crises prevention, increased fitness, better dexterity, reduction in the likelihood of developing dementia, development of new skills, living independently for longer, reducing the likelihood of needing care support, better advocacy, more signposting, the list goes on. Yes, it’s friendship - but never, ever, underestimate the true value of friendship.💛

This #BefriendingWeek2024 we are showcasing some of our members work - and today it is Vintage Vibes who won the evaluating impact award at our Excellence Awards earlier this year. You can watch their video here: https://lnkd.in/e3bBZT45

It's trustees week and we couldn't let it pass without giving a huge THANK YOU to our four Vintage Vibes trustees. Helen, Lorna, Elaine and Emma, we value your kindness, guidance, dedication and time hugely. In fact, as a team we often comment on how lucky we are to have such wonderful trustees supporting Vintage Vibes on our journey to tackle isolation in local older people through friendships. Thank you for all you do behind the scenes to help us make a difference in Edinburgh's communities. 💛

Interested to know more about our work? Listen to Georgia on the ‘Out and About in the Lothians’ podcast this week 💛

We have been overwhelmed by the kind words we receive about our work tackling loneliness in Edinburgh’s over 60s Thank you to everyone for your support over the past 9 years & for everything you continue to do to make Edinburgh a wonderful place to make friendships 💛 #Edinburgh

We were delighted to have the Minister for Equalities, Kaukab Stewart MSP, meet with our VIPs as part of our birthday celebrations and International Older People's Day this week. Ms Stewart was kind enough to open our 9th Birthday Party through a welcome video that celebrates the achievements and impact of Vintage Vibes - and features our snazzy yellow sunglasses! 💛

 Happy 9th birthday to us! We're hugely grateful to our fabulous VIPs (over 60s), volunteers, partners and supporters for helping to us to build this supportive and empowering community! As we enter our 10th amazing year, we look forward to doing all we can to continue to tackle loneliness in Edinburgh. To wish us a happy birthday, please comment, like or share and together let's bring lots more smiles to the faces of older people feeling alone. We simply couldn't do it without you, our community 💛💛💛