Our History
The story of SPC
Southwark Pensioners Centre was founded in 1987 when three existing groups merged premises.
The Over Sixties Employment Bureau was founded by the council to tackle what older people said was one of their biggest concerns: loss of employment.
The Walworth Pensioners Project was established to help older people form independent, self-run groups that met their needs, from social opportunities to advocating for changes to the services and policies that impacted them.
Southwark Pensioners Action Group was launched to campaign for the rights of pensioners in the borough.
Together, these groups converted 305-307 Camberwell Road into the Southwark Pensioners Centre, which opened to the public in September 1991. Since then, the centre has been a hub for a variety of activities and services that support older people to live healthy, active lives.
The centre has continued to evolve to support the local community: from 2001 to 2013, the Centre worked on the Aylesbury Estate to support older people in partnership with the Creation Trust; in 2011, the Southwark Pensioners Forum – which was founded in late 1990s as an independent voice for older people – became part of the Centre; and now, in 2024, the Centre is planning and fundraising to move to a new premises which will enable it to expand its services and provide for the growing older population of Southwark.
Our new centre
To find out more about the future of Southwark Pensioners Centre, visit the campaign page.
SPC history
To find out more about the history of the Southwark Pensioners Centre, visit the project website.
