COULD you live without technology for a few hours?

Age UK Bradford District has suggested National Day of Unplugging on March 16 2019 as a potential fundraising initiative to help it raise £20,000 within the next few WEEKS.

The charity suggests people switch off their mobile phones and tablets for an hour, possibly three hours, half a day or a whole day! Donations (or fines for using them when they shouldn't) can go towards the fundraising appeal which runs this month (February) up to March 20.

This year's appeal focuses on the creation of new lunch clubs, developing support for older people through Home Buddies and Telephone Buddies, and identifying people affected by challenges as they get older such as bereavement, health issues and retirement.

Mark Rounding, Chief Executive of Age UK Bradford and District, explains: “There are currently over 9,000 lonely older people living across Bradford District. We are a local, independent charity and we have teams working with as many individuals as possible, listening and talking to them to find out what would make a real difference in their lives."

Last year the charity worked with more than 5,000 lonely older people in the area and they hope to extend that work this year with the creation of six new lunch clubs for 100 older people; supporting 200 older people with Home Buddies and 500 older people with new Telephone Buddies.

Health and wellbeing and helping older people to stay active are also a focus of the fundraising appeal.

Now the charity is encouraging people to get involved and suggests a few fundraising ideas including:

• Walk of Ages – March 16 2019. Encouraging people to stride out on a marathon marathon walk covering 28.8 miles from Baildon to Wrose.

• International Day of Happiness – March 20 2019. The charity is encouraging people to wear something that makes them happy like a t-shirt from a concert by their favourite group; a sports shirt for the team they support; a hat that reminds them of a fantastic holiday; some jewellery given to them by a loved one, etc.

To support the appeal, donations can be given to one of their shops or online via their Just Giving page - https://www.justgiving.com/ageuk-bradforddistrict.

For more information about Age UK Bradford District, or to get involved, call 01274 391190 or email: chris.alexander@ageukbd.org.uk.