A CHARITY that helps combat loneliness by organising monthly Sunday afternoon teas for elderly people is appealing for volunteer drivers and hosts.

Contact the Elderly, in Minehead, has three existing tea groups, but also a growing waiting list and is having to turn down people who are longing to join in.

Now it is hoping more drivers and tea hosts will offer their services, to help provide companionship and pleasure for a growing waiting list of isolated people who want to join in the outings.

“Minehead and its surrounding area has one of the highest percentages in the country of people aged over 65, many of whom live alone,” said Christine Payne, Contact the Elderly local co-ordinator.

“For the past five years a number of these folk have been given the opportunity of being part of a local group taken out once a month for Sunday afternoon tea.

“This is thanks to a handful of willing volunteers, who give up their time to give often isolated people the opportunity of companionship and conversation with others of a similar age.

“It means that over the months and years, acquaintances turn into friends and loneliness becomes a thing of the past,” said Christine

Once a month, normally on a Sunday afternoon, each older guest is collected from their home by a volunteer driver and taken to a volunteer host’s home to join a group of around six to eight others for refreshment, conversation and companionship.

The group is welcomed by a different host each month, but the charity’s drivers and guests remain the same, and the entire service is free.

“This simple act of kindness has proven to be a very effective and enjoyable solution in combating isolation and loneliness,” said Christine.

In the past two years the demand for places within the tea party groups has expanded so much there is now a growing waiting list of elderly people.

“They are just longing for the chance to join, highlighting the need for a further group to be developed in Minehead,” said Christine.

More volunteers are urgently needed, as potential guests sometimes became too ill to leave their homes, or die, before they get the chance to join, she said.

“It is heart-breaking to have to tell someone they must wait because we don’t have enough drivers or hosts … and [you realise] they will be spending yet another Sunday afternoon on their own.

“They all have such wonderful stories to share but no-one to share them with. Without extra volunteers to take them out those stories may never be told.” |

Christine said Contact the Elderly was the only charity solely focused on aiming to combat one of society’s greatest challenges – loneliness and isolation among a rapidly ageing population.

Anyone interested in helping the Sunday afternoon get-togethers can call 01934 316578.