Cambridge United Youth & Community Trust - Forever United

Cambridge United Youth & Community Trust‘s Forever United programme launched in direct response to the Covid-19 pandemic, when many older people in Cambridge were experiencing extreme isolation and declining health.

With the programme already well established and seeing great results, we awarded them a grant through the Healthier Futures Fund to extend the programme further. The grant they received meant they could employ an additional member of staff, giving them scope to support more people across a wider geographical area and offer a broader mix of activities.

Designed to reach those most at risk of loneliness, the programme offered a range of accessible activities, such as garden-gate visits, wellbeing walks, dementia cafés, and even walking football. Each activity aimed to improve physical health, build confidence, and foster meaningful social connections.

The grant has enabled the Trust to run more sessions throughout the week, expand into new areas of work, such as delivering strength and balance classes in care settings to help reduce falls among older adults, and to reach an ever-increasing number of beneficiaries.

This additional capacity has also created positive, previously unexpected, benefits for other programmes within their remit. With greater visibility and more opportunities to connect with partners, the Trust have been able to begin and develop further work, including their Men’s Health programme, even though these outcomes fell outside the original scope of the grant.

Stella’s story

Stella had been attending the Forever United Memory Café for several years. She first came to the sessions in 2019 with her husband and his friends, all of whom had Alzheimer’s. Sadly, her husband passed away during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. Despite this, Stella continued to attend but in more of a supportive role, using her experiences to help others.

“I was invited to attend the Memory Café at Cambridge FC when it reopened after Covid.” Stella tells us, going on to say that “Although my husband had by then passed away, I was still accepted to the meetings. I used to take my husband as he was a big football fan and had played so much during his life. My husband had Alzheimer’s and this meeting helped him to remember about his sporting days which he so enjoyed.”

Stella continues “I hope that I can help other people who have to deal with looking after their husbands/partners who also have Dementia and other problems.”

You can hear more from Stella about her experiences in this short video.