Christmas is often considered one of the loneliest times of year for those living alone, but this year the Royal Voluntary Service (RVS) have teamed up with Gala Bingo to raise more funds to make Christmas happier for thousands of older people this year.
In 2013, over 300,000 over-75s are believed to have spent Christmas Day lonely and alone, with three out of 20 older people reporting that they dread the holiday because it reminded them of those they had lost.
However, this year many more elderly people will be able to enjoy the Queen’s Speech with Christmas lunches and entertainment provided by the RVS thanks to donations and Gala’s support.
The RVS was founded in 1938 and originally its volunteers helped civilians before and after air raids. They became the biggest volunteer organisation in the UK, then in 1966 Queen Elizabeth II gave the charity her patronage and the honour to call themselves ‘Royal’.
Today the RVS helps elderly people all over the country and Gala are passionate about supporting them, especially at this time of year.
Throughout much of November, Gala donated a percentage of the proceeds from every game to the RVS, and organised a VIP Christmas party due to be held in London on 6th December. The event will be hosted by The Only Way Is Essex’s Charlie King, and offers members a chance to play alongside Strictly Come Dancing’s James Jordan in a game with a bingo card so big that they hope it will break the Guinness World Record.
Alison Digges, Director of GalaBingo.com, said:
“We were keen to do something to support such a relevant and essential charity particularly in the run up to Christmas.
“Bingo is all about sociability as our busy chat rooms will testify! Many of our players are older or have older people in their lives. We want to create awareness that older people can often be lonely and on their own but that needn’t be the case. By supporting the campaign we are doing our bit to ensure that loneliness is eliminated this Christmas.”
Earlier this year, Gala raised over £10,000 for the Male Cancer Awareness Charity by managing to break the Guinness World Record for biggest bingo balls. Now that the festive period is fast-approaching, Gala want to raise large amounts of money again – this time to help elderly people enjoy a warm and welcoming Christmas, rather than spending the day alone.
