Membership of York Older People’s Assembly (YOPA)

YOPA Membership Form

York Older People's Assembly

Membership of York Older People’s Assembly (YOPA)

We warmly invite you to join us.

If you’d like to know more, please feel free to read our information and some of the benefits awaiting you (below).

Membership is £5 p.a. and is open to older individuals and representatives of older people’s organisations.

Simply download and print out the membership form (below), fill it in, and post it to YOPA together with your membership fee.

If you are already one of our valued members, please use the same form for your annual renewal.

Please get in touch if you have any questions about YOPA membership.

Registered Charity No: 1101018

The next subscription year is April 2024 – March 2025

Annual Subscriptions are due on the 1st April and remain at only £5 per member (£10 for couples) offering great value for money!

The benefits of belonging to YOPA include –

  • Being members of a body which lobbies on behalf of older people to the Council and other statutory/official bodies
  • Regular Open meetings for you and your friends at which matters relating to older people in York are covered/talked about/discussed
  • Four newsletters a year with articles of interest to older people
  • Information Fairs with many stands of local older people’s organisations
  • Annual 50+ Festival with dozens of events across the City ranging from exercise and fitness to local history, music and gardening
  • During 2022 we held public meetings while we spent a lot of time working with York Council and others to maintain our visibility and continue to register the needs of older people.

Please consider paying by Standing Order to improve our efficiency. Our Bank account details are as follows:

Account Name: York Older People’s Assembly

Sort Code:  30-99-50

Account No:  77997668

Please note it is ESSENTIAL to ask your Bank to quote your full name on the instructions from them to our Bank. If you have any queries, please contact the office.

We welcome donations and several members add a donation to their subscription.

All this is carried out by volunteers!! Please help us to keep going!

Gift Aid

We can also claim Gift Aid from the government for those who pay income or capital gains tax. If this applies to you, please let us know and we can send you a form which will allow us to claim an extra 25% on your subscription and donations.

What is the Assembly?
What does it do?
How is it different from other older people’s groups?

The Assembly is part of a thriving movement of older people’s organisations throughout England, Scotland, Wales and Northern
Ireland working in partnership with local councils and health authorities to change attitudes and services in order to achieve an
improved society for older people across the UK.

The Assembly acts as an umbrella organisation and brings together the voices of individuals and organisations working on a wide range of issues with older people in York.

How?

It has been acknowledged by government, the public sector and society as a whole that a radical change of perspective is needed if public services are to meet the challenges of our ageing society. To achieve this in York, the York Older People’s Assembly was set up as an older people’s advisory group (OPAG). The York Assembly works closely with the City of York Council (CYC) and the Hospital Trust.

Assembly members are invited to be part of various groups in the City. Close links to the Council and Hospital Trust are important. To help us in this work we have a Champion, someone who can raise matters that we have identified with the Council. Another Champion raises older people’s issues at Hospital Trust Board meetings.

From this you will see that the Assembly carries weight when issues affecting older people are discussed and policies agreed. Changes are not made overnight and can take so long that we ourselves might not live to see some of them. But it feels good that we might be bringing positive changes for older people in the future.

However, for the Assembly to be able to do its work properly, we need YOU! We need to know what your views are; we need you to tell us what changes need to take place. Too often we have left it for other organisations to represent us and then only to say what they “think” older people need.

We can speak for ourselves !

How can you be part of this?

By filling in the membership form and joining our Assembly.

By coming to public meetings and giving your views on a variety of topics.

Do you belong to an older people’s group in your area?

Then maybe you have issues that have been raised locally and can be a spokesperson for your area, ward or parish? Together we have a stronger voice.

Membership is only £5 per year – donations welcome!

Just fill in the form and give it to a member, or post it.

Please note: We do not take up individual people’s problems, only issues that affect our community as a whole. However, if you have a personal problem we might be able to advise where to go for help.

York Older People's Assembly
York Older People's Assembly

Tel: 07965 246193

Email: yorkolderpeoplesassembly@outlook.com

St Sampson’s Centre, Church Street

YORK YO1 8BE

Working for older people in York. YOPA aims to:

  1. represent the views of older people in York to decision makers locally and nationally.
  2. Inform older people about services that are available.
  3. Identify where needs are not being met.