AS NATIONAL charity Contact the Elderly celebrates 50 years of combating loneliness in older people, its Menston group, which hosts monthly tea parties for isolated older people, is calling for more volunteer help.

The group is organised by volunteers and will be celebrating the charity’s Golden Jubilee with a special Big FifTea party on Sunday.

The charity aims to relieve the acute loneliness of isolated older people, aged 75 and over, by hosting monthly tea parties in the homes of volunteer hosts. Volunteers are able to provide older guests with much-needed contact to make new friendships with local older people and younger volunteers.

A monthly tea party can make such a difference to someone’s life and the group provides older people with valuable social opportunities each month.

One 91-year-old Menston resident, who does not wish to be named, was an active member of the community. However, as her mobility has deteriorated, she requires assistance when leaving the house.

With no family living locally, she has truly valued attending monthly tea parties over the last four years, where she can meet and chat to other older people from the area. As the oldest member of the group, she has a lot of stories to share.

She said: “Life as a single person, an aged single person, living alone, changed a little after being introduced to Contact the Elderly. It is interesting and very uplifting meeting local families who have much to offer our members, therefore making life much more worthwhile.”

Local volunteers in the Menston group say that it’s great to witness first-hand the impact the tea parties have in improving the health and happiness of isolated older people in the community.

With 570 groups and 7,500 volunteers across the country, the charity is now appealing for more volunteers and local funding to access older people, many of whom do not have regular face-to-face contact with anyone other than their carer and the postman.

Mary Rance, CEO of Contact the Elderly, said: “We’re very proud to be celebrating our 50th anniversary and are extremely grateful to our incredible volunteers for making our work possible. The number of isolated over-75s is growing, and there are still one million lonely older people in England, Scotland and Wales who are completely cut off from society and need our help.

“Contact the Elderly has set ambitious targets to double its service delivery over the next five years. In order to accomplish this task, we need as much public support as possible in our Golden Jubilee Year and beyond.”

To volunteer with Contact the Elderly or if you want to attend a tea party, visit contact-the-elderly.org.uk or freephone 0800 716543.