Frome group, Active and In Touch (A&IT) continue to lead the way in combatting loneliness and isolation in elderly people.
A&IT is very much an integral part of the recently much-lauded Health Connectors community support in the local area, accredited in a Guardian article with a drop in hospital admissions from the area, against the trend in Somerset where they have been increasing.
A movement to tackle the problem has been gathering momentum. There is now a recently appointed Minister for loneliness, a county initiative to create a Somerset Loneliness & Isolation Partnership (SLIP), and Mendip District Council has launched the ‘End Loneliness in Mendip’ campaign, which aims to raise awareness of the support available for older people who are suffering from loneliness, and locally by the RAF Association. Some of these initiatives stem from the Jo Cox Commission on Loneliness, which Jo set up before her death in summer 2016.
Locally it is a problem which was recognised in 2011, leading to the start of Active and In Touch Frome in the autumn of that year by Anna Brindle. A&IT’s first mission was specifically to go with flyers into doors where the elderly and lonely might live, with the aim to give any in need social contact, and guidance and support in accessing or joining in with other groups in the town, with activities that might interest them.
From this small beginning, their support has grown from this sign posting mission to add two weekly social meetings, one being a large chat, activity and trips away group and for those who prefer small groups, a craft-based meeting. As importantly, there is also one-to-one befriending help with people in their homes or with assisted activities such as shopping, swimming or just walking trips.
Through the years from this small volunteer-based beginning, A&IT was taken under the wing of a charity called VISTA, with Anna as the paid part-time coordinator, and then when VISTA ran out of money assimilated by Somerset You Can Do (now Careers South West YCD), with Lucia Chadwick having taken over from Anna as coordinator. To be able to cope with the increased call on their services, including a much-increased funding need to provide paid assistance to the coordinator, A&IT constituted as a separate unincorporated charitable organisation in spring 2015. They work in a close and valuable partnership with CSWYcD, which still continues.
A&IT’s help is offered to any adults of 18 years or over, in Frome and the surrounding villages, and they value their younger members, volunteer or beneficiary, as much as the inevitable greater number of the elderly involved. Such is the need that those signposted to A&IT, or who get in contact on their own or family initiatives, are increasing month on month, to the point where the finance involved brought the need to register as a charity; this was achieved in April 2017.
A&IT is viewed as partners by and have some much appreciated support from Frome Town Council, who recognise that what they do contributes to the council’s health and wellbeing objectives within the town.
A&IT is also an included organisation within the Mendip initiative, and will have had much to offer, with some six-plus years actually dealing with these issues, to the county conference on SLIP.
As an indicator, A&IT have at a recent count, around 66 volunteers actively helping around 85 beneficiaries, with some 200 people helped over the years past. Volunteers, and funds, are still needed, especially as A&IT’s coverage of the villages is growing, where isolation is perhaps an even bigger problem.
So whether interested in their work as a volunteer or in need of support as a beneficiary, do get in touch with their coordinator at activeandintouch@gmail.com or on 07572 854029. More about A&IT Frome can be seen at their active website activeandintouch.weebly.com (N.B. they are currently migrating to a new website, which is not yet populated).
