Contact the Elderly are joining forces with Community Christmas

Contact the Elderly is highlighting Christmas anxiety and loneliness that many older people experience. This year it’s working with Community Christmas to encourage organisers to list their events on the Community Christmas website. These events will be open to older people and can take part anywhere in the UK. No two events are the same and they vary from community Christmas lunches to formal sit-down dinners in care homes and restaurants, to mince pies and carol singing. Any event which creates the all-important connections that hold communities together can be a Community Christmas event. Not only is the website a place for listings, it is also a place to show that there is a wonderful movement made up of people like you: individuals and organisations promoting kindness and community spirit.

Caroline Billington, founder of Community Christmas, said: “I volunteered on Christmas Day almost ten years ago and it changed my life. I knew then that I wanted to focus my time and energy on creating something that would benefit older people for years to come. Now, Community Christmas is its own entity, it’s growing organically with more and more events and activities being added to the site every day. I think its really important to emphasise that anyone can host an event, it doesn’t have to involve cooking a Christmas feast for 20 people. It could just mean arranging tea and Christmas cake at a local village hall, or singing Christmas carols in the pub. It’s anything that gets people together in the community who otherwise might be alone on Christmas Day.I can’t wait to see how it will change and evolve under the leadership of Contact the Elderly and create more community connections.”

For more information on the merger please have a look on the Contact the Elderly website. To add an event, see the Community Christmas page.