AN IRISH charity is helping those facing loneliness, isolation and hardship in London through weekly lunches, tea dances and welfare advice.
The Irish Elderly Advice Network was founded in 1993 after the deaths of three isolated older Irish men in Camden who were not discovered for some time.
Damien Grainger, Assistant CEO and Head of Finance, explained how this tragedy led to a determination with the Irish in the area to make sure vulnerable older people would not be left alone and forgotten.
“Afterwards a group of Irish women decided to get together and make sure that nothing like that would ever happen again.”
Originally from Dublin, Grainger has worked with the charity for three and a half years, but his involvement was spurned by a tragedy closer to home.
“About seven years ago my dad passed away in Dublin, and I didn’t realise how much it had affected me, and so I wanted to give something back and do something more worthwhile,” he said.
Their organisation is based in Camden (Photo by The Irish Elderly Advice Network)After volunteering as a befriender, Grainger was matched with an older Irish man from Tipperary living alone in London.
“I would go and visit him every week and help if he needed anything, help if he needed his passport renewed, that sort of thing," he said.
The charity supports many older Irish emigrants who came to Britain during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.
“A lot of the women worked as nurses or in social care, and a lot of the men worked on the roads or the building sites,” Grainger explained.
He said many older people now aren’t computer literate and struggle to access everyday services.
“A lot of the older people are digitally excluded because they don’t have smartphones, they don’t use the internet, and even to get a doctor’s appointment you are asked, 'Can you not book it online?’”
The charity helps people with booking appointments, renewing documents and applying for pensions and social tariffs on utility bills.
Ready for a bit of a sing-song (Photo by The Irish Elderly Advice Network)The charity also heavily focuses on Irish culture at their different events.
Its weekly Irish lunch club in Finsbury Park attracts between 65 and 85 people every Thursday, while monthly tea dances in east London regularly welcome more than 100 people.
“We found that people really want to keep in contact with their Irish heritage and culture,” Grainger said.
“With our team, half of them are singers and musicians, so we have live music at all our lunch clubs, where we get the older people to sing along.”
He added that music can have a powerful effect on people living with dementia.
“People with dementia as well; they remember their youth. They remember the Irish songs from years ago.”
The charity also runs an Irish pensioners' choir made up of people from across all 32 counties of Ireland, with members performing for more than 15 years at St Patrick’s Day celebrations in Trafalgar Square.
The choir in action (Photo by The Irish Elderly Advice Network)Grainger said local support has been vital to their success, with Irish pubs and landlords often helping identify vulnerable people who may otherwise go unnoticed.
“There are people that fall through the cracks, and they need a bit of help,” he said.
“A lot of these people are older Irish people who have been recommended to us through other Irish networks or through the Irish pubs.”
The organisation now has three full-time and three part-time staff, supported by 57 volunteers from across Ireland.
It estimates it reaches around 5,500 people every year through events, outreach and welfare advice.
Among its outreach projects is a befriending partnership with the Holloway Gaels GAA club, organised through Grainger’s colleague Ciara Holland.
“A lot of the ladies who play Gaelic football have successful careers and are working in professional industries, and they wanted to give something back, just like me,” he said.
Everyone is welcome (Photo by The Irish Elderly Advice Network)The volunteers help isolated older Irish people attend lunch clubs, Christmas events and St Patrick’s Day celebrations, helping them reconnect with the wider Irish community in London.
“These isolated older people are now incorporated into a larger community, and they are making friends and socialising,” Grainger said.
Reflecting on his own experience, he believes volunteering also helped him personally after the death of his father.
“It’s a sense of just giving something back to an older Irish person who just needed a bit of help,” he said.
“It is also giving you, as a person, a sense of fulfilment because you feel like you’re helping."
Despite the charity’s growth over the years, Grainger said its mission remains unchanged.
“To fight loneliness and isolation and build a community for the older Irish people, who are at the heart of everything we do.”
If you want to help you can find them: here
Hands in the air! (Photo by The Irish Elderly Advice Network)Everything from irishpost.com and the print edition is available on the Irish Post App — plus more! Download it for Android or Apple IOS devices today
