Reconnect Morpeth community interest company set-up to help tackle loneliness

Simon Harper and his fellow directors are hoping to get the funding in place so they can make a difference with Reconnect Morpeth.

It would cover the Morpeth Borough, which has a population of 14,419 according to the 2021 census. But if all goes to plan, it would be expanded to other parts of Northumberland within three years.

Simon, 38, said: “I‘m a trained primary school teacher who gave up my job in 2016 to look after my nana, Mary Daley. She had a lot to do with bringing me up, alongside my granddad.

“She was on her own and had lost so much weight due to her illness, which made her very weak. She sadly died in April.

“I visited every day to make her dinner and keep her company, and I also did all of the chores around the house. This got me to thinking, how many other people are on their own or lonely? Not necessarily housebound, but how many people don’t see many, if any people, through no fault of their own?

“You may have lots of social media contacts, or be in a relationship or part of a family, and still feel lonely – especially if you don’t feel understood or cared for by the people around you.

“People often think that it’s the older generation that feel most lonely, however a 2017 study showed that the most lonely age group was 16-34-year-olds. Research has also shown that loneliness has a physical harmful effect the same as smoking 15 cigarettes a day.

“Our services will run 365 days per year. I want no-one to dread going home from work, dread a weekend, or dread special times like Christmas. I have a real passion to make a difference.”

Services that would be carried out by the Reconnect Morpeth team include offering one-to-one home visits to people in order to register their information, walks to various places, meals in local pubs, restaurants and cafes, visits to the cinema, theatre, fayres and markets, and visits to local attractions.

In addition, it would offer a text message, email and phone call service to communicate with clients and make them feel part of a friendship.

Simon, who lives in Hadston, added: “Forming a community interest company came following discussions with my fellow directors, who have also had parents or grandparents who have passed away after helping to look after them, and the research we carried out in relation to funding applications.

“We have had meetings with Northumberland County Council and other organisations about where we could provide useful support and also larger businesses in the Morpeth area as we can help them meet their corporate social responsibility targets.

“Linking up with them means that we can be put in touch with people who can benefit from our services, but we can also give people struggling with loneliness the opportunity to contact us. Another example is people who have moved to the Morpeth area for work and are many miles away from family and friends.”