And you, are you lonely during Christmas?

The smell of oven-baked turkeys, freshly baked mince pies and traditional Christmas pudding take over nearly every British household on December 25. Christmas trees stand tall by the windows, multicolored lights dancing on their branches, awaiting for the presents to be laid underneath.

According to statistics posed on Age UK, nearly one million elderly people feel lonelier during Christmas time as they are forced to spend the holidays alone.

The growing number of elderly people who feel isolated during the most festive holiday of the year has helped with the creation of organisations such as Community Christmas. “I have opened the organisation, through personal experience. I wanted to start a project where people won’t feel left out during the Christmas time,” said Caroline Billington.

Community Christmas brings together over 400 community centres, care homes and churches that are organising Christmas lunches all over the UK. Thus, helping the elderly who are in danger of spending the special day alone find a free Christmas lunch nearby their homes.

Based in Islington, St. Luke’s Community Centre, a non-profit organisation, is one of the many participating community centres in the Christmas lunch programme. Organising various fundraising events prior to the Christmas lunch itself such as a Christmas Fayre on the 8th of December, the community centre is trying to, “[bring] the community together”, said the CEO Michael Ryan.

“I used to work in a different community centre,” said Mr. Ryan as he watched little children bake gingerbread cookies, “the reason I moved here is because the offices are within the community building. It allows me to interact with the people who come.”

“Christmas is … a time of the year when you want to be with the ones you love. I think it is really nice if there’s somewhere where people who have no one to spend time with can come together and be there for one another”, Kweku Mensah, a volunteer at the Christmas Fayre said, with a big smile.

Salvation Army Hoxton, a Christian Church charity, is also participating in the Christmas lunch programme. Apart from that, the charity will also distribute over 2,500 gifts to children in need. Sally Spry, the manager of the charity said: “I haven’t had a Christmas day off for the last … 21 years. You always get tired at this time of the year, but it pays off when you see the happiness that you bring to people.” She shares her love for helping the community and people in need with pride as she announces that there were plenty of people volunteering this year to help organise the Christmas lunch.

Other places, such as Bluegrove House, a residential care home which is also part of a trust, organise events that aim to “help break isolation or loneliness” in elderly people, said Margaret Atiror. Similar to the organised Christmas lunches, Bluegrove House also organises various events throughout the year, “we have also recently done, in October, Silver Sunday”, said Mrs. Margaret. With the great success that Silver Sunday has brought Bluegrove House, Mrs. Margaret rests assured that the numbers of lonely elderly people might decrease much sooner than we expect them to.

A heart-warming feeling to most of the organizers of the Christmas lunches is to see how many volunteers are ready to give up their own Christmas in order to come in and help. Mrs. Billington mentioned that many volunteers are young people who do not have, themselves, anyone to spend Christmas with, while Mr. Ryan boasted that the turn up of volunteers was so good, they had to close off all lists in November.

Mrs. Margaret further said, that the reason why so many elderly people might be spending Christmas alone in the recent years could be due to “a gradual drift from the family unit; people are not as they use to be before.” Age UK, posted on their website that one of the major factors that causes loneliness in elderly people is the social network they live in. Moreover, Mrs. Margaret said that families moving away or people simply living on their own for many years also might cause them to feel lonely during the most festive time of the year.

Age UK and Community Christmas are encouraging young people to become more involved in volunteering. Mrs. Spry had mentioned that more volunteers are needed for New Year’s events organised throughout the week for people who are isolated by Salvation Army Hoxton. Mrs. Margaret said that by making their contact details accessible to the social services, volunteers could help more elderly people not feel lonely.

Mr. Ryan said that talking more to people in the community and getting involved with the community itself could help combat the problem of elderly people feeling isolated. Community centres are always happy to receive more volunteering offers, especially over the holidays. “Sounds like what they do on Christmas day is amazing” added Mr. Mensah, promising that this is not his last time volunteering at community centres.