New campaign to shine a light on Leeds' lockdown lonely

Time to Shine, which was awarded £6m to fund loneliness projects for older people in Leeds in 2014, has launched the campaign after it noticed more people - of all ages - were experiencing loneliness during the pandemic.

Concerned about the health effects of being lonely, which can be as detrimental to health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day, it hopes its new campaign captures the empathy and emotional understanding of loneliness that Covid-19 is creating, to promote longer lasting understanding.

The scheme, ran by Leeds Older People’s Forum (LOPF), hopes that now so many people are experiencing loneliness for the first time, it will reduce the stigma around admitting you are lonely.

Time to Shine programme manager Linda Glew said: “When the lockdown is over I hope that we will all remember how loneliness feels and what it took to make us feel better.”

She said she hoped people would “use that memory” to bring the lonely out of the shadows.

During the campaign, Time to Shine will work with existing community groups already tackling loneliness, including Moor Allerton Elderly Care, who pre-lockdown were running a walking football group.

Since shielding began, a volunteer has taken cones and footballs to the houses of everyone in the group, so that they could remain active and motivated during lockdown.

Other examples of tackling loneliness include Richmond Hill Elderly Action,who are successfully running ‘street bingo’ sessions, for older people who are missing the usual contact and activities, and MOJO, which is working with Time to Shine to produce Shine to produce a fortnightly printed magazine, which is

distributed via food parcels from Leeds community hubs, to isolated older people.

Ms Glew added: “Loneliness is a universal human emotion, not an illness, just like happiness and sadness, joy and despair. It is okay to talk about it. To admit that you are lonely is simply to say that you have one of the most basic human needs - interaction with others.”