The winter of 1985 was one of the worst on record. Older people were dying from hypothermia. Many could not afford to keep their heating at a level which would protect them from the devastating effects of hypothermia.

Belle Isle is a very large housing estate with 12,000 residents. The houses were built in the 1940s and early 1950s to rehouse people moving out of the back-to-back houses being demolished in nearby Hunslet. The intention had been to create good quality houses with gardens in a healthy environment.

In 1985 there had been a particularly cold winter coinciding with a raised public awareness of the dangers of hypothermia. Local residents and neighbourhood workers called a public meeting to discuss the needs of older people in the area. All of the local organisations and agencies were represented at this meeting, and there was an immediate shared determination to develop a preventative strategy aimed at providing community based support to older people. A new organisation was quickly established called "Belle Isle Elderly Winter Aid".

Initially the organisation consisted of volunteers supported by local neighbourhood workers, but a grant from Urban Programme funding provided the salary of a development worker. "Winter Aid" as it  became known, set out to identify the problems being experienced by older people, ensure that they were receiving all of the local authority, health services and welfare benefits to which they were entitled and to create new