Ageing Network
Community Outreach
The University of Portsmouth is proud to be part of this vibrant city. With over 23,000 students and staff working and studying here, we take our responsibilities and relationships with the community seriously. Within UPAN we are keen to work with community partners to maintain good relationships, give back to the community, and have a positive impact on ageing-related issues within our own community.
Community outreach also forms part of our research and education activity streams, where members of the community are actively involved in shaping the projects that we do. We are also working with our community partners to generate student project ideas, in order that the work of our students contributes in some way to the needs and desires of our community. For example, students in the School of Creative Technologies are creating a website for Portsmouth Pensioners Association as part of their group student project.
The Creativity Project
We are excited about our community outreach project with Age UK Portsmouth, to liven up their Centre in Fratton (the Bradbury Centre). This project, has seen students and users of the Bradbury Centre getting creative with the wall décor to make the Centre a more inviting place to be. The Centre is a lively hub for local older and elderly people in the city but it is in need of some brightening up!
The Student Union successfully applied to Dulux for their "Let's Colour" project. This funding provided a wide selection of bright colours and many volunteers signed up to help paint! See our communications page for more details.
In addition to painting the actual walls of the Centre, student social workers will also be working with the older people attending the Centre to generate some artistic artefacts, telling their story, which can be hung on the walls and may even be put on the website. This activity will contribute towards the students’ demonstrating their ‘fitness to practice’.
There is also an opportunity for Art, Design, and Media students to get involved. With a large amount of wall space at the Centre, with potential for a public gallery where art can be displayed and even put on sale. The gallery can be a lasting feature, where art work can be rotated to keep the Centre looking fresh and future art students can display their work. The Centre has a popular cafe which is open to the public, meaning that many people will have the opportunity to view the works on display.
If you would like to get involved in the project, please sign up to be a volunteer: http://paintingageuk.eventbrite.co.uk/#
To express your interest in having your artwork put up in the gallery contact: amy.drahota@port.ac.uk
This project is joint venture with Age UK Portsmouth, where Dianne Sherlock and Sandra Taylor based at the Bradbury Centre will supervise and have overall authority of the activities.
