BOLTON people are being urged to make a special New Year resolution - to help lonely local pensioners.

Contact The Elderly is a national organisation with a well-established local branch. It offers monthly outings and tea at the home of a different host each month.

But the charity's groups around the Bolton area are asking for more volunteer drivers and hosts to donate just a few hours on one Sunday a month.

Monica Hartwell, national director of Contact The Elderly, explained that a survey this year revealed around one million pensioners in this country living alone.

"That is why we desperately need new groups and more volunteers so we can reach and touch the lives of elderly people who have no one," she said.

Outings

And in Bolton - which has a waiting-list of local pensioners who would love to enjoy the monthly outings - the groups dotted around the area urgently need more people to offer their help.

A local spokesman said: "Quite often, the Contact outing is the only time some of our elderly people will go out of their homes.

"They may go days without talking to someone, and our volunteers may be the only regular people they will see.

"We would love to hear from more people who would like to join us. It only takes one Sunday afternoon a month - or just one tea a year for a host - to really cheer up a lonely elderly person."

ANYONE who would like to help can ring a free phone number 0800 716543. Donations for the charity's work can be sent to: Contact The Elderly, 15 Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, London WC2E 8QH.

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