Silver Sunday, the national day for older people in the UK, has been one of the more unusual projects on the Square Eye roster, and one that comes to an official end this year following Age UK’s decision to step back from supporting the event.
Square Eye’s involvement began in 2012, when then-client Nigel Huddleston, later MP for Mid Worcestershire and now Shadow Secretary for Culture, Media and Sport, introduced us to Lady Christabel Flight, the Westminster councillor who had just founded the initiative. Square Eye designed the original website and has managed it ever since, as responsibility for Silver Sunday passed between Westminster City Council, the Sir Simon Milton Foundation, and most recently Age UK.
The premise was simple. More than a third of people over 75 reported feeling lonely, and Lady Flight’s response was to create a dedicated national day, held each year on the first Sunday in October, when communities across the UK would put on free events for older people.
From its Westminster origins, Silver Sunday went national in 2013. At its peak, more than 2,000 free activities were taking place across the country, attended by tens of thousands of older people.
Over 14 years, our work on the project included:
- The original branding and web design, and multiple iterations since
- An interactive map of events across the UK
- A downloadable resource library for organisers
- A login area allowing event organisers to submit and manage their own listings
- Mailchimp integration and email marketing support
- A site architecture designed for easy in-house editing, important when management of the site changed more than once.
19 of our team members contributed to the project across that period, logging hundreds of hours of work, much of it pro bono.
In April, Age UK announced that it will no longer be coordinating the event, though it has confirmed support for anyone wishing to continue holding events under the Silver Sunday name.
14 years is a long run for any digital partnership; we’re proud to have played our part, and sorry to see the programme come to an end.
