Knockout idea to help combat loneliness in the Dearne
SETTING up boxing sessions for lonely pensioners might sound like an unlikely way of tackling social isolation.
But that’s without reckoning on the skills of boxing supremo Craig Jenkinson, who took charge of a session for members of a Thurnscoe meeting, organised by the b:friend group, which helps those in Dearne area communities affected by social isolation.
It saw members don gloves and pads, working through moves with close supervision from Craig, who has a successful background in working with youngsters at the Body Carnegie gym in Bolton-on-Dearne, following the end of his own boxing career.
The session marked the start of a new partnership between b:friend and Body Carnegie, with the prospect of Craig getting involved in further work with the group.
B:friend works in various formats across Dearne communities in the Barnsley area, funded by Dearne Area Council, a local wing of Barnsley Council, which has its own budget to finance important projects in the area.
Part of that involves group meetings, including the Thurnscoe club, with plans now being formulated which could see a new group established at Goldthorpe library.
A volunteer has already shown interest in supporting that venture.
The group also provides one-to-one support, with 172 older people receiving support from that service, or through group meetings, over the three months ending in September.
Over the period, 107 volunteers gave up a total of 1,457 hours of their time, with 1,425 hours of that total being spent on one-to-one interactions.
Volunteers are paired with those who would benefit from support, agreeing to make home visits to provide support and company.
Seven new people stepped up to help during that period and, if the time provided had been bought in, it would have had a value in excess of £21,000.
If that was repeated over a full year, the benefits of volunteers’ time would be worth around £84,000.
That is around three times the value of the £28,000 the Area Council is putting into supporting the service this year.
Social isolation has become recognised as a significant problem across society.
In the Dearne area, many of those using the service are female, which has been attributed to a relatively low life expectancy among men, linked to industrial disease from the mining industry where most, historically, worked.