Youth is the gift of nature, but age is a work of art.
Stanislaw Lec

Fourty four years ago a group of organisations met in Brighton they could not predict that their commitment to ensuring the unmet needs of local older people would result in a thriving and successful Age Concern, an Age Concern that was further enhanced by amalgamation with Hove & Portslade Age Concern in 1999.

With the creation in April of the new Age Concern Brighton Hove & Portslade, it meant that the organisation shared geographical boundaries with the local Unitary authority and its place as an important partner and champion for older people was further assured.

Thanks to Dorothy Engmann, the former Director, the organisation has travelled that road in a wise and prudent manner, developing and delivering services that form the core of who we are. Those services are part of the bedrock of support to older people in Brighton & Hove, it is impossible to ignore the importance of such services as Nail Cutting, Crisis Service and Information and Advice, but all of our services are client based and client focused. We believe that whether clients come to have their toe nails cut, find out what benefits they qualify for, use our computer suite or get travel insurance they know that they are out priority. Our mission is clear, contracts and other fund are simply a means to achieving that mission, which is why we also fund 20% of the work we do from legacies and other income generation.

The next stage for us is the ensure that we are truly strategic partners for local decisions makers and that means helping Health and local government get it right, enabling business to understand Age Discrimination and act appropriately, and helping our clients.

We want everyone to understand that our clients should never experience isolation, are capable of so many things given half a chance, have a right to be economically secure and are not and will not be invisible.  The true measure of any society is how it treats its most vulnerable.

Jim Baker

Director

Age Concern Brighton Hove & Portslade