Supporting the Retired Rail Community at Christmas

This Christmas, we are supporting retired railway workers with a befriending telephone call over the Christmas period to alleviate loneliness. By purchasing a £15 telephone call voucher from our online shop, you can cover the cost of recruiting and training a befriending volunteer, and a one-hour phone call to a retired rail employee who may otherwise be alone this festive period.

Statistics from Age UK show that almost 1.7 million older people feel more lonely at Christmas than any other time of year.

We launched our ‘Check in and Chat’ service earlier this year, offering retired railway employees a weekly chat with a volunteer to alleviate potential loneliness and aid wellbeing. Since its launch, over 100 telephone friendship calls have already been made to several retired people, who were identified as missing out on regular conversations, like Bill:

“I’m finding it really helpful. I sometimes go a long time without anyone to talk to and it’s very hard. I’m 94 and meeting new people is difficult, so check in and chat in my own home with a lovely volunteer to talk to is fantastic. I still manage to get to town to run my errands, although at my age I don’t run! But the casual conversations I have with shop keepers are nothing like the calls, which are much more personal and involved.”