A LIFELINE FOR THE LONELY

SUPER neighbour Colette McKeaveney, 52, is the founder of charity Age UK Luton. She mentors 400 volunteers, employs a staff of 80 and organises three lunch clubs every week. And she does it all while raising the £1million a year needed to keep the charity afloat.

‘Basically we do things any loving family member would do for a relative,’ says Colette, who is responsible for transforming the lives of 4,000 elderly people. ‘The difference is that none of us is related. We just care.’

Colette’s determination to make a difference was born 22 years ago. Flicking through her local paper, she read about an elderly lady who had been mugged.

What horrified Colette was that the victim had just been discharged from hospital to her empty house. ‘It broke my heart,’ she said.

Colette (pictured), who has two sons and four grandchildren, joined her local branch of national charity Age Concern.

Since then — first as a volunteer, then as the paid director — she has turned it into a separate charity and made it a lifeline for elderly folk locally.

She says: ‘I am convinced that, whether we are young or old, we all need just three things to be happy. We need someone to care about and someone to care for us. We need something to look forward to. And we need something meaningful to do.’

And, of course, we all need an inspirational woman like Colette.