Friends, colleagues and family members – lend me your ears (well, as this is an email I suppose I really mean your eyes)

 

I’m running a marathon this Sunday. Of course I’d be a week too late for the London Marathon. But instead of Docklands, the Square Mile and the Embankment, I’ve opted for the winding lanes and cobbled thoroughfares of Stratford Upon Avon and the slightly less iconic, but equally challenging Shakespeare Marathon.

 

(To avoid any confusion this is a run and not an epic 26.2 hour rendition of comedies, tragedies and histories by Britain’s greatest playwright.)

 

I’m running for two fantastic charities - Age UK and YouthNet. But more to the point I’m running for the one million older people in the UK who go a month or longer without speaking to anyone they know.

 

Chronic loneliness is one of the most widespread and devastating effects of growing older. As friends and loved ones move or pass away, and poor health and mobility make it hard to get out and about, thousands of older people find themselves cut off from their communities and completely alone.

 

Age UK and YouthNet have a solution – a new programme that trains young volunteers to help older people get online, stay connected and feel less lonely. It’s simple, it’s obvious and it will transform lives.

 

Remember the last time you heard from an old friend via Facebook or received a funny email from a relative. When that’s the only human interaction you’ll get all week, that message becomes your connection with the outside world, your reason for living.

 

Please sponsor me and help Age UK and YouthNet give older people a lifeline-online:

http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/HannorahLee2

 

In the words of William Shakespeare ‘I can no other answer make but thanks, and thanks, and ever thanks.’

Hannorah