Cold Homes Week (1-5 February 2016) is a week of action on fuel poverty and winter deaths. This year Age UK are leading the week with their campaign for warm homes.
Each winter, one older person dies every seven minutes from the cold weather. Many of these deaths could be prevented if everyone lived in warm home.
During Cold Homes Week, Age UK and the Energy Bill Revolution are calling on the Government to reform its energy efficiency schemes to enable all older people to live in a warm home and to make energy efficiency a national infrastructure priority.
We are asking individuals and groups up and down the country to take part in a candlelight vigil to remember the 40,800 older people in England and Wales who died from the cold last winter.
Age UK are also pushing for national media attention, are chasing MPs to take part and will be holding candle lit vigils outside local Age UK branches.
How to get involved
Our campaigners are vital in helping us to bring about change, which is why we need your support.
During Cold Homes Week, we are asking individuals and groups to take selfies holding a lit candle (either a real candle or an LED candle) and to post it with our campaign message on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.
Just follow these simple instructions to take part.
What you’ll need
A Twitter, Facebook or Instagram account
A candle (a real candle in a holder or an LED candle)
Matches/a lighter
A smartphone with a camera or a camera (as long as you can upload your photo to a computer with an internet connection)
Be safe
Candles should only be placed in a stable, heat-resistant holder
Keep candles well away from curtains, furniture and clothes
When to take your selfie
You can take part at any time of day, but a lit candle is best seen in the dark, so if you can find a dark room, or dim the lights, or take your photo at night, all the better.
How to take your selfie
- Establish where you want to take the selfie
- Decide whether you want it just to be you in the selfie, or you and others, or if you wish to just photograph your candle
- Make sure you have enough candles
- Light the candles carefully, or switch the LED candles on
- Hold your candles carefully and take a selfie
- Upload your selfie onto Twitter, Facebook or Instagram (or all three!) using the following message:
40,800 older people in England & Wales died of the cold last winter. Join the vigil #coldisakiller @age_uk
When to post your selfie
Please post your selfie anytime from Monday 1st February onwards.
Not on social media?
Don’t worry! You can still send your photo to us and we will post it for you via our Twitter or Instagram accounts. Just email your name and photo to campaigns@ageuk.org.uk
