YEADON older people’s charity AVSED opened its doors to the community as it hosted a relaunch celebrating its new logo, new staff team, and new activities and services programme.

Based at the Nunroyd Pavilion in Nunroyd Park, and celebrating its 30th birthday this year, AVSED (formerly known as Aireborough Voluntary Services to the Elderly), took time over the COVID pandemic to review its services and activities. It has now reopened and relaunched with a holistic service "more befitting of the residents of Aireborough’s needs and wants".

The relaunch event, at the end of April, was open to residents, NHS partners, local government, community organisations, local businesses, volunteers, and current members. They saw the outcome of consultations, group meetings, co-production, and many hours of staff discussions which developed the new programme of activities and services.

The activity list now includes exercise and fitness classes for varying levels of mobility, social and friendship groups, a brand-new health section including dementia and inclusion services as well as weekly groups for entertainment and games, monthly community cafes and monthly local trips.

Members and volunteers spoke about what AVSED means to them and the differences it has made to their lives. Attendees also heard from Joan Peel, whose husband Owen was one of the founders of the charity 30 years ago. Organisers said the event covered not only the past 30 years of AVSED but laid the foundations for the next 30 years.

A new age-friendly logo was also launched after a public competition in 2021, combining elements of 4 different winning designs.

Scheme Manager Debbie Fawthrop said: "This has been a long-running project, and one that has meant a lot to the staff team as we wanted to make sure that all residents of Aireborough aged 60 plus have the opportunity to get the best out of AVSED. This meant looking at our strengths and weaknesses and making sure we built a community asset that could help as many people as possible whether that was as a member, volunteer, or resident of Aireborough. I want to thank our Board of Trustees for their support and trust to make the changes, the staff team for their months of hard work making it all happen, and all our volunteers, members, and friends for their support and commitment that make AVSED what is it."

To learn more about AVSED, visit their website at www.avsed.org.uk and visit them on social media @avsedest1992