Dame Judi Lends her support to Glossop-based community group

Dame Judi Dench, the 89 year-old award winning actress, is giving her support to Glossop-based community group Extra Time.

They provide training and support to older people who want to contribute more to society. Dame Judi thinks that ‘retired’ is the rudest word in the dictionary!

Ed Kelly, who was recently the longest-serving Mayor of the High Peak and now the Chair of Extra Time, says: “Five Glossop residents with valuable experience of local community and voluntary work deliver the training and support.

"Four of us are retired. We know what it is like to be old and understand the challenges of age-discrimination, the cost of living crisis, isolation and the feeling that you are no longer a valued contributing member of society.

"We are supporting older people to feel more positive about their skills and about how they can still contribute to our local community. We offer a unique free training course that runs half a day a week over a four week period. We also offer one-to-one mentoring and support. The course offers the opportunity to meet similar people, regain confidence and update skills.”

Extra Time has already helped a whole range of people including a retired headteacher, a carer, a retired bank manager, an unemployed accountant and a caretaker. All recent attendees have reported a significant increase in their confidence. Some have already gone on to secure paid work, become volunteers or start training.

One recent attendee said “Without the support of Extra Time I wouldn’t have thought myself capable of going to an interview, let alone securing a part-time job that perfectly meets my lifestyle. I can’t thank them enough”.

Extra Time are keen to hear from you if you would like to attend their next course. This will take place in Glossop in May. Please contact Ed on 07784862756 or email: [email protected].

Also contact Ed if you would like to make a donation to help us fund more courses in the future.

The Directors of Extra Time are Mary Jessop, Lauren Moore, Steve Lafferty, Jean Shanks and Ed Kelly.

Website: ExtraTime