Happy group’s bid to stamp out lonlieness
A new initiative hopes to stamp out loneliness in the town.
Happy Connections, funded by The National Lottery Community Fund, aim to reduce isolation and loneliness and create a welcoming space for all.
Programme Director Lynne Wardle said: “There’s people moving to Ayr because it’s somewhere they feel welcome.
“It’s quite easy to get stuck in a narrative that’s ‘ this is all bad, the High Street is declining’ but no actually, there’s some good stuff going on.
“And if we tell more of those stories and be positive, people will move towards the positive instead of ‘ it’s terrible’.
Working together with the community, businesses and organisations, Happy Connections are looking for ways to harness the creativity and passion that exists within people in the town, to create a greater sense of belonging for everyone and combat loneliness.
Lynne said: “The typical thing to think about when aiming to reduce loneliness and isolation might be a befriending project.
“Essentially somebody either volunteers or they’re paid to come and be your friend.
“But that’s a strange thing that someone is paid to be your friend.
“How sustainable is that over a long time and is that really the solution we all want in the future?
“In places like Ayr or South Ayrshire, you’re looking at an aging population but you’re also looking, for example, at people who are more often being prescribed anti- depressants than the rest of Scotland.
“So why is that? And what’s happening that people are going for medication instead of going for a coffee with a neighbour.
“We’ve spent a year out and about talking to people and what they’ve been telling us is about times in their life where they’ve felt lonely and what they done about it.
“And it’s not been that they’ve picked up the phone to Social Services to get a befriender; it’s been what they’re interested in or passionate about and how might they join a group.
“We get people together around things that matter to them.
“We give them tools, techniques, skills, capabilities and we rock the boat a bit.
The project is taking over an empty retail unit in the Kyle Centre, where people can come along and share their ideas for making Ayr a place where they feel like they belong.
Happy Connections will run innovation events as well as host other community groups and popup events.
There will be a launch event on Saturday, August 31 from 10am to 4pm which will provide opportunity for people to find out more about the project and share their ideas on how to make Ayr a more welcoming place for everyone.
Lynne said: “If you’re passing and want to join in then please do.
“It’s a place we can go to together to do creative things; it’s not a creative arts place but it’s problem solving place.
“We’re interested in diversity of views.
“This is not about everybody coming and saying ‘ oh that’s great, you’re going to end loneliness.’
“We’re also interested in people saying ‘ why are you doing that?’
“If people have ideas that they feel no- one is listening to or they don’t have a channel for it- come and share it. Because there might be somebody else who’s got a similar or different idea that we could connect up with.
“Happy Connections is the brand that we’re using because it’s all about connecting people up.”
For more v i s i t : www. happyconnections. co. uk.