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I’ve always been a bit of a loner. I quite like my own company and even after the kids left home and I missed them like crazy, I didn’t feel lonely. Well, that’s not quite true; when I divorced my husband after 24 years, I did. A little. I worked full time, so was busy during the day, but when I got home, and after I’d put my three kids to bed, there was this silence - apart from the creaking floorboards, I could hear every one of those - until it was my bedtime. I wasn’t unhappy, but nothing felt quite right. After three or four months I’d got used to it and realised that I was just missing the company, the habit of being a couple; I was alone now, but I wasn’t lonely.

When you move home, especially if you’re on your own, it can be quite a daunting experience, especially if you’re not the gregarious I’m-up-for-getting-involved-in-everything-and-anything type person, they’ll be embedded in the local community in no time at all. But when you move to  a Richmond Villages property, you’ll find you’re part of the community without evening trying and I guarantee you’ll have a blast too! They’ve found a way to engage residents mentally, physically and socially every single day through such an eclectic and interesting range of activities, I’m not sure mere words can do them justice. When I say ‘they’, that includes the residents as many of these activities are facilitated by the activities team but lead mainly by residents. You don’t have to participate, but there’s likely to be something that might interest you and it’s one of the best ways of maintaining hobbies, discovering new ones, meeting new people and building friendships.

To whet your appetite, here’s a taster of what the residents of Richmond Villages Northampton could do in just one week: ad hoc coffee mornings, local news discussion group, bridge and Rummikub afternoon, scrabble and chess group, yoga class, seated exercise class, table tennis group, silk painting, crafting and flower-arranging session, choir practice, crossword hour, entertainment and guest speaker (Fridays) and a themed music week. In addition, there’s free transport to and from the shops Monday – Friday, residents lead their own Sunday service before lunch, there are organised days out to places of interest and a monthly trip to the local theatre. Oh, and if you like tea, you can chat to the tea sommelier (yes, really!). I’m not sure I covered everything, but as you can see, there’s plenty activities to choose from and you could always start something new.

When you want to be alone at Richmond Villages you can, it’s your choice, but you’ll never be lonely.

The facts about loneliness 

Loneliness is a huge problem at any time of the year. It’s the result of the times we live in and our lifestyles which means we don’t meet up as often as we did in the past. This gets worse in the winter months when we’re outside less and probably socialising less. Working from home may also have exacerbated the problem. While experiences of loneliness vary, its effects can be profound and wide-ranging and is considered by many to be one of the largest public health challenges we face as a nation. Here are the latest facts as compiled by Campaign to end Loneliness and Age UK

• In 2022, 49.63% of adults (25.99 million people) in the UK reported feeling lonely occasionally, sometimes, often or always.
• Approximately 7.1% of people in Great Britain (3.83 million) experience chronic loneliness, meaning they feel lonely ‘often or always’. This has risen from 6% (3.24 million) in 2020, indicating that there has not been a return to pre-pandemic levels of loneliness.
• Younger adults aged 16 to 29 years are more likely than those in older age groups to report feeling lonely ‘often or always’. Social media may be a contributing factor: 56% of young people say ‘seeing friends having fun on social media has a negative impact’.
• Specific life circumstances can make older people vulnerable to loneliness. Retirement, being widowed, living with disability or illness, digital exclusion and being socially isolated are just some of the risk factors. Older people are 5.5 times more likely to be lonely if they don’t have someone to open up to when they need to.

Author: Sharon Morrison