Charity tackling loneliness among older people receives massive funding boost

A charity which tackles isolation within older communities has just received five years of National Lottery funding to continue its vital work.

To mark International Day of Friendship, the National Lottery Fund announced £321,000 in funding for the Enterlechy Arts befriending project, Meet Me at the Albany. 

Mike Brooks, director at Entelechy Arts, said: “Day centres do a lot of great work, but they are not necessarily sites for creativity. 

“Art centres, by contrast, can feel exclusionary. We wanted to mesh the two together and that’s how we came up with Meet Me at the Albany.”

The project – now in its 11th year – runs regular creative sessions at the Albany centre in Douglas Way, Deptford. 

Art forms including poetry, storytelling, filmmaking, sculpture and theatre are used to connect local older people, enabling them to live more rewarding lives and feel embedded in their communities.

Mr Brooks said: “Many of our first members are still with us – we have one participant who is 100 years old!

“One attendee of the project, who sadly passed away in 2022, had never sung in his life before he came to a session. But he then realised a huge passion for music and singing and ended up starting a choir with the new people he met through Entelechy Arts.”

Thanking the National Lottery Fund, Mr Brooks said the cash injection has given the project “stability”.

He said: “Without this funding we probably would have had to close the project, or deliver it on a much smaller scale.”

Last year a report by Age UK charity found that just 13 per cent of Londoners over the age of 60 believe the capital is “a place where older people are valued”.

At the same time, cash strapped councils have axed funds that provide services to elderly and vulnerable people leading to closures across the capital.

Helen Bushell, head of regional funding for London, South East and East of England at The National Lottery Community Fund, said: “International Day of Friendship Day is the perfect time to celebrate fantastic projects supporting older people in their local areas to make new friends in creative and effective ways.”

Since 2019 the National Lottery Fund has supported almost 30,000 projects that involve addressing or reducing social isolation.

Pictured top: Meet Me at the Albany session in Deptford (Picture: Entelechy Arts)