Standing Up for Sitting Down
Anchor, a charity for older people, has launched a campaign which can support your business. Business in Goole is supporting the Standing Up 4 Sitting Down campaign. It calls for shops and retailers to provide adequate seating for older people using the high street to shop and socialise.
Anchor launched the campaign because a lack of seating means many older people say they can’t access their high streets and shopping centres as much as they’d like. Their aim is to drive awareness of the issue and encourage retailers, shopping centres and councils – all those that make up the Great British high street – to ‘Stand Up 4 Sitting Down’. They would like retailers to pledge to maintain the number of chairs they have available, or to increase it.
Leigh Johnson, Renaissance Co-ordinator, has been developing initiatives with Business in Goole to enhance the town’s economy and believes the campaign would work well in Goole. ‘Anchor has identified an important issue that certainly impacts on the retail and leisure choices people make. We’re fortunate to have a good number of seating areas in Goole town centre, but lack of seating in shops is a real barrier that prevents many older people going out and engaging in society. Aging can bring about a range of conditions that can give pain, or create breathlessness and tiredness. The opportunity to sit and rest for a few minutes enables people to continue enjoying their social and shopping time. Seating and accessibility in high streets and public spaces leads to happier and healthier people and places. The campaign helps businesses to recognise being age friendly doesn’t have to cost much at all. Providing a chair or a seating area really helps people to both socialise and shop at their own pace; in turn this also supports local economies and is therefore good for us all.’
Peter Sanderson, Chairman of BIG, considers the campaign a great idea. ‘We know many shops are already great at providing somewhere for shoppers to sit and rest and we’d like to celebrate those. We also want to support Anchor in increasing accessibility in stores to amplify the number of shoppers, which is good for older people and good for business. ‘
To back the campaign, please visit www.anchor.org.uk/joinsu4sd Anchor will send you a free sticker, which you can display if you want to demonstrate your involvement. If you would like any more information about Standing Up 4 Sitting Down, please contact the campaign team on communications.team@anchor.org.uk.
