The course racing flat out to tackle loneliness

BEVERLEY Racecourse is hosting raceday tea parties to help combat loneliness and isolation among older people.
Beverley Racecourse has teamed up with Contact the Elderly to launch a new initiative to help counter loneliness.Beverley Racecourse has teamed up with Contact the Elderly to launch a new initiative to help counter loneliness.
Beverley Racecourse has teamed up with Contact the Elderly to launch a new initiative to help counter loneliness.

The first of the tea parties will be held next Tuesday and will see 40 local elderly people enjoy an afternoon of racing, tea, cake and conversation.

The partnership was inspired by an initiative in May which saw residents from three Beverley care homes invited to the sixties-themed Bygone Beverley raceday to reminisce about racing in the 1960s.

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With help from over 11,000 volunteers nationwide, Contact the Elderly takes more than 6,000 older people out for afternoon tea every month across the UK, with guests collected by a regular volunteer driver.

A panoramic scene at Beverley Racecourse.A panoramic scene at Beverley Racecourse.
A panoramic scene at Beverley Racecourse.

Jean Blake, 90, has been helped by the charity for 10 months and admitted it had been a lifeline. She said: “I think these afternoon teas are a wonderful idea. When my husband died, everything stopped. I stopped going out and I couldn’t drive. These get-togethers make you feel useful again and give you a purpose. I was lonely before and now I have something to look forward to.”