ON behalf of WRVS I would like to thanks all the WRVS volunteers from across Bromsgrove and the surrounding villages.

Our volunteers work hard each day to ensure that we deliver hot meals to isolated older people across the area and to help provide transport for shopping trips and medical appointments.

WRVS recently issued a challenge to the public, private and not for profit service providers to ensure that all older people in the UK have daily human contact by 2010.

Thirty-two older people in the UK die alone and unnoticed in their homes every day - the equivalent of 12,000 a year.

Seventeen per cent of older people who live alone are often or always lonely.

One in seven older people in deprived neighbourhoods are severely lonely.

So I feel that we all owe a big thank you to the dedicated WRVS volunteers who through delivering Meals on Wheels, or driving for Rural Rides across the area, are doing something positive and practical to combat the social isolation that so many people are facing today.

Any reader who would like to know more about making a difference in their community and becoming a Meals on Wheels or Rural Rides volunteers can call (0845) 601 4670 or visit the website at www.wrvs.org.uk

Alicia Lawrence

Regional Volunteering Manager

Lock Road

Withington

Hereford HR1 3QE