Loneliness is a hot topic at the moment, especially in the context of COVID. But does focusing so much on loneliness as a problem of older age mean that we miss loneliness throughout the life course, perpetuate stereotypes of older people and drive funding and support away from other issues older people are facing? We discuss this and the many other myths around loneliness with Professor Christina Victor, the professor and gerontology and public health at Brunel University.

Later on in the episode, we are also joined by Richard Dowsett from the National Lottery Community Fund, where we’ll discuss why they decided to make a £84 million investment to improve the lives of people aged over 50 by addressing both social isolation and loneliness within local communities.

A transcript of this podcast is available at www.ambitionforageing.org.uk/podcast

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Further reading

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· Loneliness is not just for Christmas – but by the flurry of charity messages you’d think otherwise, an article written by Christina in 2017.

· During the episode, Christina references champion swimmer, 81-year-old Baz Owen.

· A summary of Joseph Sheldon CBE and his 1948 Wolverhampton survey, as referenced by Christina in the episode.

· Information about the National Lottery Community Fund’s Ageing Better Programme

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Ambition for Ageing is a Greater Manchester-wide cross-sector partnership aimed at creating more age-friendly places and empowering people to live fulfilling lives as they age. Ambition for Ageing is part of Ageing Better, a program set up by the National Lottery Community Fund, the largest funder of community activity in the UK.  Ageing Better aims to develop creative ways for older people to be actively involved in their local communities, helping to combat social isolation and loneliness. Ambition for Ageing is led by Greater Manchester Centre for Voluntary Organisation, the voluntary community and social enterprise sector support and development organisation covering the Greater Manchester city region. The theme tune for this podcast is Air by Iliya Troyanov, and any indents this season are taken from his track Tide. Both are used under a creative commons license from his album Fugue. Thank you for listening to this podcast. For more information about Ambition for Ageing and the work we do, visit ambitionforageing.org.uk.