Articles

VIP Companionship for Older People is a new charity working in South Cambridgeshire and rural
Northamptonshire. Charities are not formed because life is great but because there is a need to try and help make things better for people when they are faced with adversity, whether it is medical or financially based. With luck, we are going to grow old with good health and with our families around us; for many, the latter will not be the case. Loneliness is increasing amongst older men and women; in fact, the World Health Organisation has rated loneliness as a higher risk to health than smoking. Those who are lonely are likely to go into residential care earlier and/or suffer an increased risk of heart disease, depression
and dementia.

VIP Companionship works in rural areas where there is a dearth of adult social care, encouraging lonely or very isolated people (VIPs) who find it difficult to get out, enjoy a few hours away from home in the company of one of the companion volunteers. Through this support and friendship, the volunteers hope to give them the confidence to enjoy life again, whether that is going for a walk, or sharing a hobby; possibly preventing loneliness turning into something damaging to their health and wellbeing.

This year, VIP Companionship returns to the quintessentially beautiful Old Rectory in Sudborough, home of Annie and Anthony Huntingdon, who so very generously held the 2012 inaugural fundraising event resulting in an incredible sum of over £5000; for An Evening of Wines and Gardens on Saturday 3rd May with George Atkinson Clark of the Woburn Wine Company.

Tickets, £17, are available from Clarissa Burgess on 01284 789190 or from Maddy Jones on
01954 719555. www.vipcompanionship.org.uk Charity Registration No: 1140646