Our History

The first part of the organisation that is now Age Concern was founded on 9 September 1948.

Throughout the winter of 1948, journalist HA (Bud) Glasson and Sister Tingey of the District Nursing Service had investigated the plight of Dunedin’s older people. The resulting Otago Daily Times exposé stirred public indignation and led to calls for action.
 

Many of the problems faced by older people remain today: hardship, health care, social isolation, and discrimination.
 

On 9 September 1948 a public meeting, chaired by Dunedin’s mayor Sir Donald Cameron, agreed unanimously to set up the Otago Old People’s Welfare Council. The council's first permanent home was in Garrison Hall, Dunedin. Chairman Bud Glasson and a team of volunteers provided information, drop-in centre, and home support services including one of the first Meals-on-Wheels services in New Zealand.

Acknowledgments: Wendy Patterson (Age Concern Otago, 1998)