As you get older, there are many things that start to worry you, it can be safety at home, money flow or energy prices to name a few. Having said that, there are however, lots of products available that have been designed to help you with your worries, like the Mobility Plus walk-in showers and walk-in baths.

By using mobility products such as this you are able to retain some of your independence when movement becomes difficult in later life. But sometimes there are worries you have that no amount of money can buy, such as loneliness.

Elderly playing cards

According to Age UK there are so 1 million older people that go a whole month without speaking to another person.

To tackle this, there are many charities that have been set up specifically to combat loneliness among the older population in the UK and one of which is Contact the Elderly.

CTE was set up by a gentleman named Trevor Lyttleton MBE, back in the 1960’s when he met an older lady who lived near him in Marylebone who had no electricity in her house and was entirely alone. In his quest to help the lady, he discovered that she was actually one of hundreds of elderly people in her area in the same situation.

From this he decided that he could do something to help, and so together with a few friends he organised a monthly gathering on the first Sunday of every month to give those people that much needed contact with others.

Trevor set up further groups and in September 1965 they were granted charitable status to enable them to raise funds to advertise for volunteers.

This small act of kindness grew into what is today a national charity with groups in every region of England, as well as Wales and Scotland.

If you are over 75 and live alone with little contact with other people, Contact the Elderly can help.

Each person is collected from their home by a volunteer driver and taken to a volunteer host’s home for the afternoon. The group is warmly welcomed by a different host each month, but the drivers remain the same which means that over the months and years, acquaintances turn into friends and loneliness is replaced by companionship.

They bring people of all ages together, develop fulfilling friendships and support networks, and give everyone involved something to look forward to each month.