Horwich Farrelly helps deliver festive cheer to elderly people this Christmas

This Christmas employees at Horwich Farrelly have partnered with The Wonderful Post Project, to create personalised greetings cards for more than 100 elderly people who may be feeling isolated or without anyone to visit them this festive season.

The Wonderful Post Project is a charity with a mission to bring the world together, one letter at a time. The Wonderful Xmas Post campaign sees the charity work closely with care homes and community outreach partners around the UK to identify older people who are unlikely to hear from anyone at Christmas. The project relies on volunteers, school groups, youth clubs and workplaces like Horwich Farrelly to get involved and make a difference.

Eloise Sochanik, Corporate Responsibility and Engagement manager at Horwich Farrelly commented: “Research commissioned by Age UK, the UK’s leading charity working with older people, found that half a million older people across the UK are expecting to feel lonely this Christmas. Of those, four in five have not sought any help and for just over half, loneliness has become a ‘normal’ part of life. Our colleagues at Horwich Farrelly were moved by these statistics and wanted to take action to help make difference this Christmas.

“We held two Christmas-themed drop-in sessions at our Manchester head office; our Sheffield and Cardiff offices also got involved. Over 60 members of staff took part to put together handmade Christmas cards, which were designed and personally addressed to over 100 older people.

“We are extremely proud that so many of our employees realised how significant the problem of loneliness is for older people at this time of year, and generously took time out of their working day to help. The cards came out beautifully, with our colleagues revealing their creative sides. We are already looking forward to taking part in the project again next year and plan to hold even more sessions so that we can get even more employees involved and help bring cheer to even more elderly people over Christmas 2020.”

Neil Gill at Wonderful Xmas Post added: “Over a million older people will not hear from anyone this festive period. We are immensely grateful to the Horwich Farrelly team for taking part in The Wonderful Xmas Post and using their creative skills to send something special to older people in care homes and assisted living facilities around the UK. The team’s card creations were bright, fun, and full of thought and friendship. They will undoubtedly be appreciated and treasured by their elderly recipients this Christmas. Thank you!”