WHERE DID THE IDEA OF A FORUM BEGIN?

The first Elderly Forum began in 1983 in Castlemilk, Glasgow. A public meeting was organised by the Strathclyde Regional Council Social Work Department and pensioners from all groups were invited to attend. At this meeting pensioners made a list of problems that affected them - particularly housing, health, transport and welfare problems.

They then decided to form a group, which they called the Castlemilk Elderly Forum, and elected a Steering Group. The seniors realised that if they got together in one group they could ask for improved services and also meet with officers from departments and elected representatives.

From this, a series of two-monthly meetings were arranged with officials and Councillors - where seniors could put forward their ideas and problems - progress was beginning to be made.

Soon other areas in Glasgow got to hear about Castlemilk Elderly Forum and wanted to form similar Forums in their neighbourhood. The Castlemilk seniors felt that the best way to contact pensioners' groups throughout Glasgow was to hold a one-day Conference.

THE SLEEPING GIANT CONFERENCE

The first Sleeping Giant Conference was held in October 1984, with a follow-up Conference arranged for January 1985. The Conferences were attended by 350 and 450 pensioners respectively and both were very successful.

The aim of the Conference was to get pensioners together and encourage them to work on campaigns for better services, and to get them to form their own Forums.   Those who attended felt that they were able to share information, ideas, knowledge and experiences.

Between the first Conference and the follow-up Conference in January another six Forums in Glasgow had formed and several other areas outwith Glasgow had shown a keen interest in establishing their own Forums.

Pensioners had now begun to realise their potential in terms of influencing policy. In summer 1985 it became apparent that in order to progress wider issues, forums would have to develop a strong representative voice.

To this end, delegates from the 9 established forums joined together to form Strathclyde Elderly Forum (SEF). SEF was launched with the declaration that ?the Sleeping Giant has woken up and is on the move? referring to the fact that there were 400,000 pensioners in Strathclyde and they would be a powerful group if they united.

From its office base in Glasgow, Strathclyde Elderly Forum provided information, training, support and advice for new and established local elderly forums throughout the Strathclyde Region.

In 1996 Strathclyde Regional Council and the lower-tier District Councils were abolished and replaced by 12 single tier unitary councils.

In 2001 as part of a review of Strathclyde Elderly Forum the members had a rethink about the name of the organisation and, in particular, the use of the word elderly. It was felt by many that the word had a negative connotation and was disempowering. It was decided to change to the word senior. At the same time it was felt that the Strathclyde name no longer reflected our members coverage and this was therefore changed to West of Scotland Seniors Forum.

West of Scotland Seniors Forum now represents 85 local senior forums in the 12 local authority areas in the West of Scotland.