Burmantofts Senior Action: Inside the Leeds charity that has become a ‘lifeline’ for elderly residents

Burmantofts Senior Action, located in the Anglers Club, Burmantofts, has been serving its residents for more than 25 years.

Under the direction of project manager Tom Armstrong, who joined the non-profit organisation two years ago, the charity has grown not only in numbers of residents but also in the number of services available to the community.

Tom said: “We're growing. In the last two years, we've doubled our income and we've doubled our staff so we can do more work in the community now which is brilliant.

“We currently have 500 people listed on our database. That is 500 local members, which is just about 20% of the local community that's eligible for us.”

The charity runs a large operation of weekly activities from bingo and line dancing to lunches and afternoon tea.

It also now runs a digital health hub to help its residents to understand how to use devices and offer access to the Internet. Staff and volunteers work side-by-side to ensure that no resident is struggling to understand their bills or benefits.

The charity has begun offering weekly medical health drop-in sessions run by the NHS, called the Community Health Hub, but the charity also has its very own wellbeing officer, also in partnership with the NHS, to ensure residents stay healthy at home.

Margaret Hayes, 79, has been a regular at Burmantofts Senior Action for about 15 years. Despite moving out of the area in recent times, Margaret makes every effort to come to sessions run by the charity.

She said it is the growing list of things to get involved with that helps her “get out and about” and is what keeps her coming back. Margaret added: “It saved my life. Absolutely, saved my life. I live on my own. I didn’t go out. I had depression, I used to cry.

“By hook or by crook, I’ll be here, everyday. It’s my lifeline, this place. The staff – they can't do enough for you, they will do anything to make sure you have a great time.”

Brenda Morris, 76, started volunteering at Burmantofts Senior Action from the moment she joined the club more than 20 years ago, and has stayed an important part of the charity. To her, getting the elderly residents, who she considers to be “one big happy family”, outside is most important.

Every week, the charity pledges to take its residents to visit places across the city and get involved in events. Whether it be a small trip to the White Rose Shopping Centre, a getaway to a town in Wales, or a visit to the Leeds market ahead of Christmas, it hopes these activities will keep the residents social and improve their mental health.

The charity is now looking to invest in recruiting more staff members to expand its current services.

Tom said: “We want more volunteers to be involved, so we can provide more services. We'd like to be befriending home residents and we'd like to travel buddy. We'd like to do more activities in groups.

“We do a lot of intergenerational work. We are solely focused on people aged 60 plus, to make sure that they feel supplied and part of the community but we're also going to be employing a community cohesion worker – the area is highly diverse.”

Find out more about Burmantofts Senior Action via the website.