Sheffield Charities Unite with World Seniors Snooker
The World Seniors Snooker Tour, in collaboration with Sheffield City Council, The Crucible Theatre and Age UK Sheffield is proud to announce a Seniors of Sheffield Day which will take place on Friday 5th May 2023 and give 500 residents of the city a chance to come to the Crucible Theatre to not only see some top class snooker but meet likeminded others and engage with many of the great organisations based in the city helping and serving the ageing population and those living in isolation.
Research done by World Seniors Snooker Director Rohit Sagoo, with Age UK Sheffield, shows the number of over 50’s experiencing loneliness is set to reach two million by 2025/6. This compares to around 1.4 million in 2016/7 – a 49% increase in 10 years. There are 1.2 million chronically lonely older people in the UK and half a million older people go at least five or six days a week without seeing or speaking to anyone at all.
Loneliness, living alone and poor social connections are as bad for your health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day and lonely people are more likely to be living with dementia, heart disease and depression
Rohit said “Loneliness is likely to increase your risk of death by 29% and we have a great opportunity to use our Seniors Snooker event in Sheffield to get local residents along and help them understand the support that is available in the city through Age UK Sheffield and all the other great groups.”
Jason Francis, Chairman of the World Seniors Snooker Tour said “This is the start of a project to allocate a day each year to the senior people of Sheffield, who may be vulnerable or living in isolation. Many may not have been able to see snooker in the Crucible before but more importantly we will have representatives of the city’s charities on site to let people know they are not alone and there is help out there. We also want to say thank you to all the volunteers and carers out there.”
Steve Chu, Chief Executive of Age UK Sheffield said “This is a fantastic initiative to engage older people in Sheffield with a sport we know many of them love. We believe there are 12,000 lonely and isolated older people in Sheffield, many of whom whose main source of company is either a pet or the television.
“Visiting the Crucible to see some live snooker will be a great experience for those who benefit from Seniors of Sheffield.”
Tickets will be allocated through one of the city nominated groups and will include a free ticket to the 1pm session of the snooker on Friday 5th May, a hot drink on arrival and the chance to engage with Age UK Sheffield and other city charities. A few of the snooker legends will be on site to say hello and share some memories of what the city and the Crucible means to them.
If you feel you can use some of these tickets for older people you are supporting, please e-mail Lucy Sharp lucy.harper@ageuksheffield.org.uk.
