Transform Ageing: Exploring the challenge in Torbay

Transform Ageing is a design-led programme to improve people’s experience of ageing.

It brings together people in later life, social entrepreneurs and public sector leaders, to design and deliver solutions to the needs and aspirations of our ageing communities.

In Phase 1, design workshops were held in Cornwall, North Devon, Somerset and Torbay over the Summer 2017. Participants worked together to explore a specific challenge and conduct research in their communities. Their findings informed a set of ‘innovation briefs’ for social entrepreneurs to respond to in Phase 2.

We commissioned an ethnographic team (Postcode Films and Fan Sissoko) to follow the experience of one group in Torbay, working on the challenge ‘staying active in the community’.

What did we learn?

• The group felt very positive about being part of the programme. Many participants came with experience of caring and bereavement and the programme helped them to value the contribution they could make by speaking from their own experience
• The group were challenged by the scale of their brief and so finding a focus was essential. Preparing a research question helped them to narrow this down
• After doing some community research, the group felt their sample was skewed towards people who were already motivated to be active in their communities, and sought to redress the balance. This led to an important insight about ‘being active in the community’ meaning different things to different people and therefore not to create a one-size-fits-all solution

How can I find out more?

For an in-depth look at the stories from each location, see our other ethnographic videos and report.