Perhaps you visit your family, go shopping or visit our splendid countryside? Plenty to do but what if you are an older person who lives alone and struggles to get out and about and you have no family at hand and no car? Sunday can be a very lonely day!
Contact the Elderly is a national organisation which tackles isolation in older people by organising monthly Sunday afternoon tea parties. Our volunteer drivers pick up one or two older people and drive them to the home of a volunteer host, where they join the rest of the group for tea. Our drivers stay and enjoy the afternoon too. The tea parties offer a lifeline of friendship to our older guests.
Could you spare one Sunday a month to take an older person out for tea or one Sunday a year to hosts a tea party in your home for a small group of older people and volunteers? All that you need is a downstairs toilet, a big tea pot and a warm heart!
We are starting up a new group in Tynemouth and Monkseaton. If you would like to volunteer as a driver, to host a tea party or join in as a guest please contact Sheila on 01434 672 110 or email Sheila.Ryder@contact-the-elderly.org.uk.
by Sheila Ryder