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Cadbury’s & Age UK Team Up To Tackle Loneliness

Helping 225,000 older people talk to someone

The iconic chocolatier Cadbury Dairy Milk has teamed up with Age UK, the country’s leading charity working with older people, in a bid to help combat loneliness in our aging population.

The union comes after a recent study found that 225,000 older people can go a whole week without speaking to anyone, at all. Imagine spending the majority of your life in silence, with no one there to talk to, to share your problems with, to tell your triumphs to.

This is the reality for hundreds of thousands of older people in the UK alone but there are simple things we can do to help, such as calling grandparents, chatting to an older person in the checkout line or volunteering for local charities.

As part of the ‘Donate Your Words’ campaign, Cadbury’s is removing all words from the front of the packaging of their famous Dairy Milk chocolate bar, displaying nothing but the company’s recognisable ‘glass and a half’ logo. As well as sparking conversations about the reason behind this change, Cadbury will also donate 30p to Age UK for every limited edition chocolate bar sold.

Cadbury’s brand manager, Laura Gray, has said the company is incredibly proud to be supporting Age UK in this worthwhile cause and explains: ‘donating the words from our bars of Cadbury Dairy Milk [encourages] people up and down the country to donate theirs through small gestures that could really help change the lives of older people.’

Helping 225,000 older people talk to someone

Age UK’s charity director, Caroline Abrahams, hopes the campaign will raise much needed awareness of how widespread loneliness is and how it can have a serious negative impact on a person’s physical and metal wellbeing. She explains loneliness is a particular problem for over 65’s, because ‘retirement, bereavement and ill health mean many older people find they are spending a lot less time enjoying the company of others than they’d like.’

The campaign has four suggestions for ways you can donate your words; chatting with an older person in your neighbourhood, giving an older relative a call, checking in on an older neighbour and/or becoming an Age UK volunteer. For more information on the campaign, visit the Age UK website.

Among the most highly regarded care homes in Dorset, Primrose Lodge Southbourne offers expert care and support to older people so that they can maintain an independent, happy and healthy lifestyle surrounded by friends and trained carers. To learn more about what we do, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with our friendly team today on 01202 429514.