Surrey Charity: "They don't want to be a burden"
A Surrey charity that supports older people dealing with isolation told us about how easy it is for people become alone
A Surrey charity which looks after older people suffering from isolation has been telling us about how easy it is for people to slip into isolation
Figures show that 1.6 million older people in the UK find Christmas extremely difficult and more than 2.3 million who long for companionship
CHEER is a charity in Elmbridge which supports older people with a number of services designed to reduce loneliness, isolation and financial hardship.
Chairman of the Charity Julian Mobbs told us about how easily old people can become isolated
"Incredibly easy. It could be through having lost a partner. It could be that they never had a partner. It could be that their families or close family live many miles away
It's primarily a generation where they don't want to be a burden. And part of that is getting on with it and doing it yourself. So asking for help or interacting with others seems like a burden."
Julian Mobbs added that winter and Christmas could be especially hard time for those that are alone
"So the the feelings of isolation and loneliness when you turn on the television, if they have one, sometimes they don't even have a a television and you see families and, you know, people gathering together and festivities and large dinners and everything else can of course be a reminder of what they don't have."
The CHEER charity offers support and food during the winter to isolated people, something which he says can be invaluable to them
"This year we'll have two, what we call, winter warmer lunches it's an opportunity to have a hot meal sometimes for some of them, but certainly a hot Christmas meal, it might be the only one they have and it's it's obviously with with others.
So they naturally have company and social interaction with like-minded souls.
We also offer winter warmer bags, they're gifts, you know, essentials like toiletries, warm clothes but also key contacts and support information."
However, it's not just over the course of the festive period where people can be isolated, and Julian Mobbs expressed that it's always important to make sure isolated people aren't forgotten or left behind.