Stephen Hammersley – Faith in Later Life https://faithinlaterlife.org Inspire, Equip, Encourage Thu, 16 Nov 2023 11:06:53 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.1 https://faithinlaterlife.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/cropped-FILL-favicon-512-v3-32x32.png Stephen Hammersley – Faith in Later Life https://faithinlaterlife.org 32 32 Love My Neighbour – In Care Homes https://faithinlaterlife.org/love-my-neighbour-in-care-homes/ Wed, 15 Nov 2023 08:56:01 +0000 https://faithinlaterlife.org/?p=15426 Everyone gets a bit down when the days get colder, and the nights draw in.  Most of us hunker down and suffer through the abominable ‘trick or treat’ season and wave a sparkler or two in November, as we look forward to Christmas and the hope of Easter and Spring.

And as a Christian that’s where things get interesting because the two highlights of the season revolve around the birth and resurrection of Jesus.  It’s a time when its normal to talk about Christian things and when the seasonal songs and images stir the memory, and the mince pies and mulled wine warm the body.

Love my Neighbour is a simple but potentially life-giving campaign to remind and encourage us all to connect with our neighbours. It’s good for everyone, but our prayer is that this would be especially good for older people this winter making the most of the season.

As the CEO of a charity that runs residential care homes, I know how valuable visitors are and I encourage you to see if your local care home(s) could be your neighbours this winter, and  if they would welcome the offer of someone to lead a worship service.  Research this year showed that at least 70% of people living in care describe themselves as Christian so you should get a warm welcome.

In partnership with Embracing Age, Faith in Later Life have a Love My Neighbour service plan which teams can deliver in care homes. You can download it here: LMN-Care-Home-Service.docx.

And as Christmas approaches there is help for organising a carol service that will be accessible to care home residents

And whatever you do or don’t do in person, please pray for people visiting care homes and care home residents to help them love their neighbour. Here are some handy tips to get you started: LMN-Care-Home-Visitors-and-Chaplains.docx

Stephen Hammersley

CEO, Pilgrims’ Friend Society

 

]]> Love love me do! Love My Neighbour 2023 https://faithinlaterlife.org/love-love-me-do-love-my-neighbour-2023/ Tue, 14 Nov 2023 08:36:08 +0000 https://faithinlaterlife.org/?p=15417 How often do you hear of a lifesaving idea that will save someone’s life that you can do, and one that most people in the country can do.
That was the startling thought that hit me when I first heard of  “Love my Neighbour”, surely me reaching out to a neighbour won’t save a life – or will it?

Indulge me in a thought experiment that tells more – you can save a life and we, together, can save lots of lives.

This winter there will be around 30,000 excess winter deaths according to government statistics.  These are predominantly older people who get ill and cold but who don’t seek help soon enough because they are isolated and lonely particularly when it’s dark and cold outside.
Age UK estimate that 1.4 million people in the UK are often lonely.

How do we connect with 1.4m people whose wellbeing is suffering because the relationships they have do not match up to those they would like to have and who are at risk of being one of the 30,000?

Well, if every listener to BBC Radio 2’s Sunday programme at or around 8 am visited just one neighbour then we would have just enough visits, and by 9am the number of listeners mean we would have over a million too many visits.

If every adult who attends church on a Sunday morning, visited just one neighbour on Sunday afternoon then we would also have 1 million too many visits.And if everyone who went to a Premier league match this weekend, buoyed with enthusiasm visited two neighbours in the week that would reach just the right number people.

So we could save this lives this winter, and all we need is the encouragement to reach out to someone living near us.  That is where “Love My Neighbour” kicks in, a simple but potentially life-giving campaign to remind and encourage us all to connect with our neighbours. It’s good for everyone, but our prayer is that this would be especially good for older people this winter.

The Faith in Later Life website contains some simple tools and ideas that help people and churches reach out and make a start by showing that housebound people are valued: individuals with unique strengths and interests as well as challenges; people whose voice matters and should be listened to; but whose confidence and self esteem might be low; and who might need a little help to help themselves.  And amongst these people will be some at real risk this winter. For people who want to help more people more deeply we signpost other organisations that provide training and can help with more extensive schemes.

The Beatles pleaded “love love me do…someone to love, somebody new, someone to love, someone like you”  As for me, I’m off to visit my 96-year-old neighbour armed with a fresh scone and ready to chat about the King’s birthday.

Stephen Hammersley  CBE
CEO Pilgrims Friend Society

 

Additional Signposting

1.    NHS England Workforce, Training and Education

2.    Campaign to End Loneliness

3.    Age UK Loneliness Report

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