I am the local co-ordinator for Contact the Elderly, a national organisation which changes the lives of people aged 75 and over who live alone and cannot get out on their own.

I currently have three local groups covering different parts of the district, and one Sunday afternoon a month each guest in the groups is collected from their home by a volunteer driver and taken to a volunteer host’s home, where they join a small group of other elderly people for tea, cake and company.

The group is warmly welcomed by a different host each month but the charity’s drivers and guests in the group remain the same.

This means that over the months and years, acquaintances turn into friends and loneliness is replaced by companionship.

Interest in Contact the Elderly has grown enormously over the past year and I now have many guests, particularly from the Watchet and Williton area, wishing to join us but unfortunately have insufficient drivers to take them to the tea parties.

I would love to hear from anyone who can spare just three to four hours once a month as a volunteer driver and so give this group of local lonely and isolated people something to really look forward to.

All drivers will need a DBS check and the cost of this will be covered by the charity.

The tea parties really do change a lonely person’s life.

For more information call Freephone 0800 716 543, look at our website www.contact-the-elderly.org.uk or contact me direct on 01643 841276 or 07826 702958.

Many thanks.

Christine Payne, Contact the Elderly Co-ordinator, Minehead, Exmoor & the Quantocks.