Tackling Loneliness: When Ronald and Jack Met
Jack and Ronald have a lot in common, both are former armed forces personnel with a love of ballroom dancing and both are living alone and lonely. However, now thanks to Blackpool FC Community Trust they are in regular contact with each other and combatting their loneliness.
As part of the Tackling Loneliness Together project, funded by DCMS and EFL Trust Blackpool Football Club Community Trust (BFCCT) have created a referral process to enable external partners to refer those individuals in the community who are most at risk of being lonely and socially isolated.
Ronald had not been out of his house for a few months and did not have much social interaction with others. Ronald has family who lives abroad and speaks to them regularly through the use of skype. Ronald served in the armed forces and was a Ballroom Champion with his wife, who passed away 18 years ago. Jack has been housebound for a while due to very poor mobility, however, he still has a visit from his son once a week. Jack is a veteran of the royal marines and used to also be a ballroom dancer.
When Jack and Ronald were referred to the loneliness programme, it was was amazing how much they has in common and it became the Trust’s mission to introduce them both to each other. However, firstly in the lead up to the introduction, the community trust supported both Jack and Ronald through weekly phone calls, garden gate visits and postal packs containing recent Blackpool Football Club match day programmes, puzzles and letters from pupils who attend Park Community Academy.
Once the Trust staff had built a relationship with them both, they were finally able to set up a 3-way call, which included Jack, Ronald and a BFCCT staff member. The gentleman spoke about what they have been doing, their days in the armed forces and their ballroom dancing days. They both agreed that they would like to keep contact and start to contact each other through Skype. This caused a minor issue as Jack had never used Skype before and did not have it on his tablet. The Trust brought in a local partner, Blackpool Coastal Housing and Ability Net, who have contacted Jack to support him with accessing Skype.
Dave Maclean, Blackpool FC Community Trust’s Community Engagement Manager, said,
“The connection that these gentlemen had from their first phone call conversation was extremely heart-warming and justifies why a project like this is needed. To be able to bring together two lonely gentlemen who are socially isolated and do not have much human interaction and befriend them who has such strong common interests is exceptionally special.”
