Volunteers needed to help combat loneliness

Contact the Elderly is urgently appealing for volunteers living in Rochdale to spare just a few hours each month to help with the running of local tea parties for the elderly – and enjoy a cuppa and a cake themselves

Contact the Elderly, the charity solely dedicated to tackling loneliness and isolation among older people, is urgently appealing for volunteers living in Rochdale to spare just a few hours each month to help with the running of local tea parties for the elderly – and enjoy a cuppa and a cake themselves.

The charity aims to relieve the acute loneliness of isolated older people, aged 75 and above, who live alone, by organising free monthly Sunday afternoon tea parties for small groups of older people within local communities – providing a regular and vital friendship link every month.

Each older guest is collected from their home by a volunteer driver, and is taken to a volunteer host’s home, where they join a small group for tea, chat and companionship. Contact the Elderly is hoping to start a brand new group in Rochdale as it is one of the only areas without this service in Greater Manchester. However, it is currently struggling to recruit volunteer hosts to welcome the group into their homes for tea twice a year.

Contact the Elderly’s North West England Development Officer, Kathleen Sheridan, said: “The charity is committed to offering a lifeline of friendship to the oldest and loneliest people, but our hopes of extending this lifeline to even more elderly people in Bury are currently fading due to a real shortage of volunteers in the area.

“Anyone who can spare a couple of hours one Sunday a month, has a driving licence, a car and a capacity for drinking tea, is eligible! And for those interested in becoming a host, it would just involve a couple of hours twice a year. It’s not a big commitment, and our volunteers genuinely get as much out of the experience as our older guests, so I’m calling for anyone who is interested in giving something back to their community to please get in touch with me as soon as possible.”

Rochdale residents interested in volunteering for Contact the Elderly
once a month as a driver, or twice a year as a host, can contact Kathleen Sheridan, North West England Development Officer on 0161 434 7335 or email kathleen.sheridan@contact-the-elderly.org.uk