In recognition of an ever growing older population the Partnership have developed a team to deliver a programme of sporting activities suitable for people over 65 years of age living in Aberdeen known as the Golden Games.

This team is supported by the Adult Social Care Wellbeing Team, within the Aberdeen Health and Social Care Partnership and includes partners from NHS Grampian, Aberdeen Sports Village, Sport Aberdeen and Aberdeen Football Club Community Trust.

The Golden Games were developed in order to address the major health inequality that is associated with ageing.  In order to address this they took an asset based approach to ageing and concentrated on what people CAN do, rather than what they can’t do.  Physical activity at any age is known to proactively prevent illness by helping to maintain good physical and cognitive function. For older people it may play an important role in offsetting the early stages of dementia, promoting wellbeing and helping to prevent falls.

In 2011 after successfully collecting over £500 via a charity collection, the initial Golden Games event was held with 10 free sporting activities over a two day period, which over 80 people attended. Feedback from participants was very positive.

This year a full programme of over 71 different activities in over 30 different venues was held over five days, including a social event to close the Golden Games.   

Last week, The Golden Games successfully won the Healthier Lifestyle Award at the Scottish Health Awards, which is huge testament to the hard work of all partners involved in the Golden Games; and of course Julie Somers for co-ordinating the event.

Everyone at Aberdeen FC Community Trust would like to extend their congratulations to Julie and her team; as well as all partners involved in the Golden Games for the success at the Scottish Health Awards and the deserved national recognition of the Golden Games.

The Golden Games 2016 is already being planned and will increase to seven days, starting on Thursday 9^th June and ending with the social event on Friday 17^th June.  This is mainly due to the increasing expectations of participants to try as many different activities as possible and to showcase the many active ageing activities that already take part in the city, as well as have activities in more localities, closer to people’s homes.

For some more information on the Golden Games and the impact the programme has on the City of Aberdeen, follow the link to the official Golden Games video here.