Ray, “Getting older does worry me sometimes, when you think of the future and who will look after you. So it’s good to talk about things on Radio Club."
radio cluB/TURNING OLD PEOPLE INTO RADIO STARS
Radio Club makes radio stars of older people, who in a weekly show share their stories, loves and grumbles to the listening public. Helen founded the award winning project in a response to increased reports of older people becoming isolated and lonely in the UK. Nearly half of all people over 60 live on their own, and yet 75% only see family once a month.
Picked from thousands of entries to the Nesta Ageing Well Challenge with the Cabinet Office, Radio Club won funding to start clubs in inner city part of the West Midlands and rural parts of Cheshire. Helen combined the talents of the radio stars themselves with local radio stations, community workers, the documentary genius of Finn Taylor and the creative brilliance of Mother London and Caroline Pay.
Radio Club focuses on using storytelling to rebuild a sense of purpose and contribution for older people in the community who had lost this self belief. At its heart is the sense of belonging. Radio Clubs in Birmingham and Macclesfield have over 100 members who discuss pretty much everything on-air from curried goat and the eurovision song contest to the civil rights movement and coping with loss.
As founder and Executive Producer of Radio Club, Helen developed and delivered the concept, carried out insight, sourced funding, recruited radio stars, evaluated impact, and established Radio Clubs.
Images courtesy of Finn Taylor/DMB Represents.
Project development:
- Insight and concept development
- Funding pitching and sourcing
- Executive Producer of pilot activity including
- Recruitment of staff and volunteers
- Recruitment of older people
- Baseline and review evaluation of social impact
- Production of radio content and live shows
- Budget
- Ethics, legal and consent management
- Website, photography and marketing production
- Local PR and marketing
- Sustainability and scale-up modelling
Rudy, “You feel that sense of importance because you’re a human being and it makes you feel that you have lived a life and not just for nothing.”
Mrs Clarke, “I never used to talk a lot, I used to just sit here but since I’m doing Radio Club I’m mixing with other folks and getting to know them. I’ve grown in confidence. I love it."
Little, "A lot of people stop me and say ‘I heard you on the radio, what you say is all right you know.’ It feels good when people say that.”