shropshirestar.com/news/local-hub…

We’re striving to end loneliness and social isolation, but we can’t do it without your help. 

To find out more on how to help us on our mission, visit our website omega.uk.net/get-involved/

Finally all of us from Omega would like to thank Graydon and all the team at Shrewsbury Morris Dancers for their hospitality this evening and allowing me to post and write on this HUGE platform!

Please share our messages. We really are doing some critical work and one day who

A couple of final notes, Shrewsbury's Mayor will be on Pride Hill to meet the public on Saturday 25th May; Omega will be there too, engaging with new clients and volunteers, and giving out information. Please come and say hello if you're in town

Visit omega.uk.net/news-events for

Well, I'm running out of breath and I can barely type... but before I go would anyone like to ask a question before the Omega takeover draws to a close for the evening?

Reply to this post or send a direct message here on Twitter/X. Alternatively, you can email

Never a nice thing to talk about and something that we often shy away from.
Its an inevitability though

So please consider leaving a gift to Omega in your will.

You can donate a fixed amount or what’s left after other gifts have been given out. Ask your solicitor for help

BUT I know that some people like the chance to win a few bob back too, that why you do the lottery right? Giving the charity, BUT IT COULD BE YOU.

So we've got one of those too and it'll cost you 25 p a week

TWENTY FIVE PENCE PER WEEK. - less than a packet of crisps.

So to

Here is the moment youve been waiting for

You Shall Not Pass!! (yes i know)

Please please consider supporting the critical work that we do helping socially isolated and lonely people. We know that our interventions, putting it blunty save lives. Anything that you can afford

OK, when I arrived at Omega it became clear and I suspect its the same with most charities.

There are key elements that we need to exist.

Exposure - Hence being here tonight (awareness perhaps would be better than being exposed?)
Money - I'll come to that in a while - hold your

More stats.

In 2020, Omega set out to support over 500 clients per year. By 2023, this had increased to over 600 per year. We've introduced a new strategy where Omega is aiming to incrementally increase the number of clients receiving support to 1000 per year by 2027.

I'd like

I almost forgot to mention this ...

Did you know that one of the smaller programmes that we at Omega offer is to loan iPads with speech synthesis software to clients with Motor Neurone Disease and similar neurological conditions.

So they can keep in touch and maintain contact.

In conjunction with the Student Friends programme, we also thought about educating and informing younger children too.

So we asked a number of our refers, and our clients , staff and volunteers, then we canvassed some local Shropshire Primary schools to see if there was an

I'm particularly pleased with a couple of new programmes that we are working on whic is a spin off from Letterbox.

I believe that children ar...

No, I'm not going to sing BUT, informing and educating young people about loneliness is critical to the success of what we want to

Face to face meetings is something that I and we as a team are keen to re-establish and reinvigorate. We do have some great community group meetings across the Midlands but ideally we need to have more. Now we could just try to create new pop up groups OR maybe we could help

In addition to 'Chatterbox' we also have 'Letterbox' which is our FREE (that word again) penpal befriending service in which clients and volunteer befrienders exchange friendly letters via Omega. We act as the link between the two and ensure that the two way content is

OK back to the serious stuff and the script...

Omega offers a free (yes FREE) telephone befriending service where the lonely people that we support are matched to DBS-safeguarded checked volunteer befrienders, with whom they exchange supportive, friendly phone calls.

They can

Omega used to have the name - National Association for End of Life care, but we feel that our new title, Omega - Ending Isolation, Ending Loneliness is more reflective of where we are now and what we do.

To coin a phrase 'it does what it says on the tin' (was that Ronseal?)

A few more stats. I'll try not to overload you with numbers. It's not a year 10 maths test.

Albeit there will be questions at the end so make notes!!

In the UK, 11% of 16-24 year olds, 16% of 25-34 year olds and 20% of 35-49 year olds feel lonely often or always.

'ALWAYS'

Omega historically provided a service to primarily older people 75+ and that was fantastic. But what about someone in their 60's, or young people like me in their 50's (don't laugh - apprarently 50's are the new 30's so technically I'm not middle aged) so now we are extending

Can you recognise the signs of somebody that may be acutely lonely or isolated. I have to admit that I didn't. Maybe I hadn't looked.
Maybe it was someone else's problem.
Maybe I should've?
Maybe?
I'd probably seen it but never recognised or reflected upon what I was seeing or