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Daily’s loneliness campaign wins a £1m friend

A daily newspaper’s award-winning campaign highlighting the devastating effects of loneliness on communities has hit a £1m jackpot.

The Yorkshire Post confirmed this week that North Yorkshire County Council has agreed to set up an Innovation Fund after experts warned leaving people feeling isolated can have a dramatic impact upon their health and well-being, especially in large rural areas.

The £1m funding will support projects across North Yorkshire to tackle the problem of loneliness through visual and performing arts workshops, pop-up community cafes, counselling services, and physical fitness workshops.

The Johnston Press title, which attracted heavyweight support from The Silver Line founder Esther Rantzen and Prime Minister David Cameron, has been campaigning for loneliness to be universally recognised as a health priority in the paper’s communities.

Former That’s Life presenter and ChildLine founder Ms Rantzen said the YP’s campaign, Loneliness: The Hidden Epidemic, had been “brilliant” to draw attention to the issue.

She added: “This isn’t like other epidemics. The basic cure is company, and if you reach out to people who need us we will be able to create a transformation in the lives of older people in this country.”

The paper beat 29 other publications to the title of ‘best local newspaper campaign’ in the Newspaper Society’s Making a Difference online public ballot which attracted more than 12,000 votes during Local Newspaper Week in May.

The prime minister said Local Newspaper Week was “making a difference”. He added: “Local papers continually fight for their communities, agitating for change, and, very often, succeeding.”

The Yorkshire Post launched its campaign in an effort to tackle a problem which affects more than 91,000 older people living in the region.

It also staged a regional summit on the issue attended by almost 100 experts in the field of social care, the voluntary sector, the NHS and local authorities.

Kate Jopling, director of the Campaign to End Loneliness, said the summit had marked a significant milestone in the push to drive loneliness out of the shadows. The YP campaign is clearly bearing fruit as the Royal Voluntary Service has seen the number of potential volunteers calling to offer help to a lonely person double, she added.

Nicola Furbisher, managing editor of The Yorkshire Post, said loneliness was an issue that could not be ignored.

She added: “It is a hidden epidemic – and we all have a role to play in banishing it from our communities.”

North Yorkshire County Council has stressed it wants to focus on a preventative agenda to give older people the support they need to stay in their own homes for longer.

The Innovation Fund, which will see more than £450,000 handed out in the first round, is being managed by Your Consortium, an enterprise which is based in Knaresborough.