COMMENT

WHAT the Pearson family have done is a brilliant way to forge a wonderful new relationship – grandparents are a really valuable part of family life.

Silver Line callers often tell us that Christmas can be the most painful time of year for them because their fond memories of happier times just emphasise the loneliness and isolation that they’re suffering from.

It is in the New Year that we get even more calls because when families reach out and remember people at Christmas they often get dropped back into isolation afterwards.

It can then seem even more bleak by comparison.

We have spoken to dozens of older people over the Christmas period who literally have nobody to share this holiday with. While television adverts are full of happy families crowded around a Christmas dinner table, they are fixing themselves a snack or ready meal.

The Silver Line’s chief executive spoke to one lady at 7pm on Christmas Day who was still waiting for her carer to bring her Christmas lunch.

We see a rise in calls around Christmas and I’m afraid last year we couldn’t meet the demand, it was so high. We think it will be even higher this year.

There is a real stigma around

loneliness for older people. It’s difficult to admit that you need help when you have been needed and relied upon all your life.

If you suffer from a mental or physical disability that makes it impossible to get out of your house without help then invitations to Christmas or Boxing Day parties are difficult to accept.

Most of us have got older people among our friends and family that we could at least ring and remind them that we care.

Telephone calls do make a difference.