Be Connected

Be Connected supports and encourages our residents to connect and engage with others through a variety of initiatives that looks to combat loneliness and reduce social isolation. 

There are a number of initiatives that sit on different platforms that are accessible to support residents including:

Virtual Coffee Mornings

Join us every Tuesday at 11am for a virtual coffee morning on Microsoft Teams or phone.

Spend some time with the Resident Involvement & Wellbeing Team and other residents from across Anchor for an informal chat about anything from the weather to crafting. These virtual coffee mornings are an easy opportunity for people to build friendships and socialise with new people. We can organise guest speakers and themed calls to compliment your interests, so join us and let us know what you'd like to chat about.

For more information or if you would like the Teams login details please email us.

Pen Pals scheme

As part of our campaign to combat loneliness and reduce social isolation, we have set up our very own exclusive Pen Pal scheme. We have introduced this initiative to support those residents who do not have access to a digital device or prefer the nostalgia of writing letters, but we welcome all residents to take part. There are also opportunities to be paired with residents who wish to call or email instead of writing.

By having a Pen Pal it can:

• Help you to develop social skills and abilities and hone reading and writing skills.
• Create lasting friendships and combat loneliness and social isolation.
• Increase dexterity - due to arthritis and other health conditions, many older people tend to lose dexterity in their hand.
• Embrace creativity – share stories that bring joy to residents' lives.

Studies show that the act of journaling is excellent for your mental health and brain function and this scheme is also great for those who are hard of hearing or unfamiliar with technology.

Chatty benches

Chatty benches are springing up all over the country to combat loneliness and reduce social isolation. It’s a simple idea where existing or newly installed benches have a sign on them that shows by sitting on them, a person is happy to chat with whoever comes and sits next to them. It is a fantastic opportunity to increase face to face interaction, spark up new conversations and making lasting friendships.

Find out more about Chatty Benches

Together Choir

Do you have a passion for music? Or maybe you just enjoy belting out a tune in the shower? If you enjoy singing and being a part of a community, we’ve got the opportunity for you. Singing fun and well-known songs, we want to bring people together across Anchor using the power of music. Music can help us connect with each other, improve memory, and be a great stress relief. Everyone is welcome!

The Together Choir is supported by a choir master, and we meet virtually once a month. We’ll be keeping the sessions relaxed. You can choose if you’d like to join in with the singing or just listen in.

We’ll also be encouraging the use of instruments, so feel free to come prepared with anything you play.

Book Club

Come and join our virtual book club and immerse yourself into different characters and stories. The aim of our book club is to bring residents and colleagues together who have a passion for books, speak to others to gain their interpretation of the book and be part of a book loving community. 

Our book club takes place every 6 weeks. You can connect via Microsoft Teams or dial into conversation using your mobile phone. 

NHS Check In & Chat Service 

We have partnered with the Royal Voluntary Service and have added the Check In & Chat Service to our Be Well programme as a fantastic additional resource to support our residents. 

Originally introduced to provide Covid support, Check In & Chat is now a national programme providing a vital telephone befriending service with 400,000 volunteers supporting 2 million enquiries every year. 
The Check In & Chat service is an almost immediate response and can really support those at a critical time of need. They currently offer a short-term befriending service for 4 weeks (once a week) where a person will speak to a different volunteer each week for a friendly chat. The service aims to support social interaction and help reduce social anxiety around talking to new people, as well as improve mental wellbeing and loneliness.

If you would like to register for support from the Volunteer Responders, please call 0808 196 3646 (8am to 8pm, 7 days a week) and speak to the support team who can register your request or via the website here. 

And if you would like to take some time to volunteer to the Check In & Chat Service, the link to sign up is here (the flexibility of the programme really lends itself to us people who work).

Re-engage

Re-engage is a call companion service for older people who live alone or in sheltered housing. This befriending service aims to help tackle the increased loneliness experienced by the people living with us, and the real difficulties that many face around accessing services in person.

Re-engage also offer a Rainbow Call Companion service supporting members of the LGBTQ+ community and face to face tea parties. They are also always on the look-out for volunteers so if you have some free time that you would like to put to good use, find out more here.  

We have partnered with the specialist charity Re-engage to maximise the number of people we can help through their extensive network of Call Companion volunteers. Re-engage has been operating for over 50 years and exists to provide social activities for older people at a time in their lives when their social circles are diminishing. It has experience organising over 900 regular social gatherings across the UK for 8,500 older guests, supported by 14,000 volunteers. However, in response to coronavirus they suspended social gatherings and created a telephone befriending service for older people called Call Companions which has been well utilised.  

For more information regarding any of these Be Connected initiatives, or if you would like the Microsoft Teams login details please email the Resident Involvement & Wellbeing Team on [email protected] or via phone at 07523 943 501.