Cherish Reach and Connect, located near Hesketh Park in Southport have made it their mission to end loneliness. Many of those that benefit from Cherish are generally aged 50 or over and are lonely or isolated. The charity aims to tackle this by offering friendship and support by hosting events, classes, and groups and signposting to other services.

The centre began over a decade ago, when founder David and Pam and two of their neighbours got together to provide a three-course Christmas dinner for the lonely and isolated in their local community centre. Since 2012, Cherish has grown and in 2018 they moved into their new home at The Cherish Centre, Southport. This allowed them to provide much greater support for those socially isolated or in need of company.

According to Age UK, more than 2 million people in England over the age of 75 live alone, and more than a million older people say they go over a month without speaking to a friend, neighbour or family member. Also, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has labelled loneliness and isolation to be as bad for your health as smoking.

It’s statistics like this that make services like Cherish ever more important.

Tackling loneliness at Christmas

The Christmas meal is still at the heart of what they do. Cherish host a two-course meal with entertainment, free of charge for people who don’t have friends and family they can celebrate Christmas with. In Christmas 2022 they had 87 guests and they relied totally on the community, volunteers and local businesses to support this event.

One of their Christmas volunteers this year was Mike. This was the first time he’s volunteered, and Mike found it to be an incredibly positive experience.

‘I was lucky enough to be accepted as a volunteer driver for the Cherish Christmas event in December 2022 and was humbled by the amazing commitment and dedication of all concerned,’ said Mike.

Never having done any volunteering before let alone on Christmas day he didn’t know what to expect.

‘I was initially reluctant to stay for the afternoon but I was so happy that I did – it was an absolute joy to be surrounded by so many lovely people, who might otherwise, like me, have had to endure a lonely Christmas day.’

‘The afternoon was great fun and it was genuinely humbling to see the work that went on from Pam and David and the team to ensure that everybody enjoyed themselves.’

So would Mike recommend volunteering?

‘Please, if you have the chance to get involved, then grab it – you won’t regret it!’

If you’re interested in volunteering for Cherish or another organisation click here. We have hundreds of volunteer roles across Sefton.