As we reported in our last newsletter, BPEC is undertaking outreach workshops for older people’s groupsin Brighton and Hove. With topics including Fairtrade, ethical shopping, waste, energy conservation and water, the aim of the workshops is to inspire people to promote these issues amongst their families and communities using the Centre for support. Here a couple of our volunteers Sue and Klara share their experiences from their presentations to the Sudanese and Arabic Speaking Elderly Association (SASEA), The 60+ Action Group and St. Johns Centre. Despite the language barrier at SASEA, participants were very interested and keen to talk (thanks to the excellent translator). As coffee is grown in Sudan, there was a great deal of participation on this topic. It was satisfactory to see lively discussion about the unfairness of free trade compared to fairtrade. Evidently we left them with something to think about amongst their families and friends. In general, we found that older people are environmentally friendly and not wasteful and they quite often come up with suggestions of their own about recycling and traditional cleaning methods. The participants at the 60+ Action Group were quite familiar with topics such as ethical shopping, energy conservation, wastage and water efficiency. From a formal style we moved into a more informal discussion in order to get the participants more involved. The discussions afterwards showed that they were keen to find out more about how to switch energy supplier and how to lobby the council for better recycling facilities. After serving fairtrade tea and biscuits, the group decided to switch to Fairtrade in the future and they are also committed to writing a letter of complaint about the poor recycling facilities in certain areas of Brighton and Hove. The people attending the St.John’s Day Centre tended to be older and less physically active than at the other groups. However they were very keen to participate in discussions. Their manager and helpers also joined in with the workshop and were very supportive. The group is already involved in local recycling projects and have invited us back for a second session. On reflection it has been challenging but enjoyable to meet these groups and also have the opportunity to tell them about BPEC, and offer them future support from the Centre. The project is ongoing, with more workshops scheduled. Evaluations will start in December with follow up contact with the groups over the next few months. Have we made a difference? It is difficult to know, but as one of the organisers said: “we have certainly learned things from you and hopefully, you have learned some things from us.” Please contact us at the Centre if you know of any group that might be intersted in hosting a 3rd Age Workshop.