I’m the Head of Programmes at Liverpool Cares – a community network of younger and older neighbours hanging out and helping one another out in our rapidly changing city. We aim to reduce social isolation and loneliness amongst older and younger people, improve our neighbours’ connection and confidence, and bring people together to bridge the gaps across social, generational, digital, cultural and attitudinal divides.
Since 2018 we’ve connected with over 2,000 younger and older people living across Liverpool, encouraging them to come together and share laughter and time with one another. Being the Head of Programmes means that I lead the delivery and development of the programmes we offer and manage a fantastic team of programme coordinators. It’s a role I’ve been in for over three years now, and I’ve seen Liverpool Cares grow from a brand new charity to the inspiring network of older and younger neighbours that it is now. We work all across the city, from Anfield to Allerton, collaborating with local spaces and places to run our free social clubs and connect new older and younger neighbours to the Liverpool Cares network.
Personally speaking, I’ve been back in Liverpool for almost 4 years now. This is the city my parents grew up in, and it’s where I spent some of my childhood. I’ve always loved how easy it is to strike up a conversation with anyone in Liverpool – that welcoming attitude is really unique, and it’s been key to the development of Liverpool Cares over the past few years. After moving around, it made perfect sense to me to return to Liverpool and settle here – there’s so much happening all of the time and so many incredibly inspiring people and organisations all across the region. I often hear people say that Liverpool might be a city, but that it feels more like a village in how connected we all are to one another.
