The Ageing In Place Pathfinder

The Greater Manchester Ageing in Place Pathfinder is working to make sure older people's voices are heard and valued in the places they live.​ The Pathfinder represents a significant commitment from a wide range of stakeholders to establish resident-led partnerships in eight neighbourhoods in Greater Manchester.​ In these partnerships local organisations are working together with local residents to agree and prioritise ways to improve the quality of life for residents as they grow older.​

Pathfinder Partnerships are focused on neighbourhoods where there are clustered populations of residents in mid and later life, which can be known as Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities. In these places, building an inclusive approach to age-friendly community infrastructure will aim to engage socially isolated local residents and communities to participate and find new ways of supporting and connecting them to improve their health and wellbeing.

We are putting older people’s voice and lived experience at the heart. Learning about what they value, the contributions they make and the barriers they experience to ageing well in their local communities. We have three questions at the core of our work:

• What is it like to live around here?
• What could make it better?
• How can we work together?

Co-produced neighbourhood action plans will respond to these questions and the unique character of each neighbourhood. They will deliver improvements to the physical environment, local services and other projects and activities. Partnerships involving older people will build local capacity, capability and resilience to improve their lives and the experiences for others in their neighbourhoods.

The learning from the eight Pathfinder Partnerships will support partners in the Greater Manchester Ageing Hub to tackle inequalities in later life, including supporting older people with the continued recovery from the impact of Covid-19 and in the current cost of living crisis. This will deliver on our ambition to sustain and scale this practice to create great places to grow older across the whole of Greater Manchester.​

The Ageing in Place Pathfinder is led by GMCA working with Manchester School of Architecture and eight lead organisations anchoring the Pathfinder Partnerships in neighbourhoods. The Pathfinder is investing £4 million over 3 years and is financially supported by a charitable donor along with matched resources from lead organisations and Greater Manchester partners. The neighbourhoods and lead organisations are:

Little Lever, Bolton with Bolton at Home​

Moorside, Bury with Bury Council​ and Persona Care

Abbey Hey, Manchester with Southway Housing​ Trust

Kirkholt and Smallbridge, Rochdale with Rochdale Borough Housing​

Pendleton & Charlestown, Salford – Inspiring Communities Together​

Brinnington, Stockport with Stockport Homes​

Ridge Hill, Tameside with Jigsaw​

Worsley Mesnes, Hawkley and Goose Green, Wigan with Wigan Council

In preparation for International Day of Older Persons (1 October 2023) and its theme - 'Know Our Place', we partnered with Yellow Jigsaw to film local older residents in place. Throughout August and September, we visited each of the Ageing in Place Pathfinder neighbourhoods to record films with local residents, highlighting the importance of place for ageing well. Whether it be connecting with others through arts at a local gallery, or having a chat with friends at a local social club, the videos showcase the neighbourhoods as strong and supportive, and vital for connection, health and wellbeing in later life.

We hope you enjoy watching these videos as much as we enjoyed producing and filming them. With thanks to our featured residents, the venues and our Pathfinder leads:

For further information please contact: AgeingInPlacePathfinder@greatermanchester-ca.gov.uk or sign up to the Ageing Hub newsletter for regular updates by emailing The Ageing Hub: ageinghub@greatermanchester-ca.gov.uk.

Article Published: 21/09/2022 14:42 PM