About our Charity
Loneliness exists and
We'd like to help end it.
Loneliness and social isolation are harmful to our health.
Over 9 million people in the UK – almost a fifth of the population – say they are always or often lonely (British Red Cross and Co-Op, 2016).
But don’t take our word for it. Here’s what the experts say:
Holt-Lunstad, 2015
Age UK, 2018
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Holt-Lunstad, 2010
Holwerda et al, 2012
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Cohen, 2006
Research commissioned by the Eden Project, 2016
Our befriending
This is community support in its most authentic form.
Volunteer befrienders pledge to visit a socially isolated older neighbour near them for one hour per week for a cuppa and a chat. On the way back from work, the shops, dropping the kids at school – whenever is convenient for both people, a befriender will spend an hour just chatting, listening and supporting someone that otherwise may have no one.
We pair individuals based on locality and a range of other factors and preferences. Each befriender and older neighbour receive regular support to ensure they’re benefitting from the project.
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Our history
Our charity was founded by Mike Niles, in 2017.
Mike experienced loneliness first-hand while working down in London so became a befriender himself to make connections. Seeing how extensive the issue of loneliness and isolation was in the older populations, he decided to do something about it.
Based in a makeshift office in his parents garage in Doncaster, the objective was simple: to reduce the isolation experienced by older neighbours in the town by bringing people together. After a lot of deliberation about a name for the charity, it was named, simply: b:friend.
Since then the charity has grown to cover the whole of South Yorkshire and parts of Derbyshire with plans to expand even further. Over 800 older neighbours engage with the b:friend project each week and this number is set to rise.
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Our Social Clubs
No two weeks are the same.
Each club activity is different… and they’re certainly not boring. From shaking-up Bond-style mocktails, performing street-dance routines, exploring fascinating cultures, designing tattoos, chocolate tasting sessions and jiving to Bollywood-inspired music… members are exploring new horizons and getting out of their comfort zone each week.
The Five Ways to Wellbeing model forms a clear framework with which b:friend co-design all group activities. Our Social Clubs ensure attendees are: connected to others through conversation and activity; active through physically engaged sessions; continue to learn through engaging talks, discuss topics of the day and take note of others around them; while giving time, support and attention to others.
Are groups are accessible, safe and inclusive places for all.
Our
Partners
B:friend is lucky to have the fantastic support of some committed and visionary grant funders. To change the status quo there must be a desire to do things differently and we work with some wonderfully forward-thinking organisations, without whom, this project would not exist.
For full details of our partner organisations, see our latest audited annual accounts
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