Silver Sunday

Silver Sundays at Court Hey

From investigations into the demographic of the community surrounding Court Hey we discovered that there were a large number of older people living in the area, many of whom lived alone.  As a church we felt that part of our mission was to help those people who may feel forgotten or ignored.  Following a national initiative, Court Hey held its first ‘Silver Sunday’ about eighteen months ago.  The idea was to bring together people over 60 who may live alone or find it difficult to go out to meet other people.  The first event was well attended and now attracts 25-30 people at each meeting.  They include both people who normally attend church and also people from the surrounding community.

Events are held every two months, usually on the second Sunday afternoon of the month from 2 to 4pm.  The format normally consists of a quiz to get everyone chatting, followed by our first activity, then tea and cakes, and, finally, our second activity.   The activities encourage people to chat to each other and make new friends. The events have proved a great opportunity to provide a meeting place for the numerous people who live alone.

We have had a number of themes including Christmas, Easter, Valentine’s Day, and Summer.  Activities have included sing-a-longs (always popular!), country dancing, line dancing, chair exercises, a beetle drive, a sensory quiz and a quiz about Liverpool which encouraged everyone to talk about their memories of times past.  More recently we had a guest singer which everyone enjoyed immensely.  Last November, following on our theme of Remembering, Michaela lead a short service to remember family and friends who are no longer with us.  Almost everyone stayed for the service which was very well received by church-goers and non-attenders alike.