Nice To Be Out

Sitting in the hairdressers with a half head of foils, looking in the mirror at a noseful of Gower sunburn, is not the way to hear about the death of Stuart Cable.  But that's how it happened.  I'd glanced up from an article congratulating Tom Jones on being hot and 70, when some passing emissary stuck their head round the door and announced the sad news to the assembled shampoos and sets.

Whenever anyone mentions the Stereophonics, it just gives me a flashback of after-school ballet lessons in Aberaman.  This was before extra-mural competitive parenting became the standard fare of chick lit and twitchy Sunday newspaper columnists.  Anything more than Brownies and Sunday school and it was a definite case of "'oothe'elldoyewthinkyeware".  Ballet gave way pretty quickly to a late afternoon Nesquik on the settee in front Wacky Races.

Thomas Woodward obviously had a bit more dedication to his art than I, although our passion for hair dye might count as a shared interest I suppose.  Until recently, of course, as Sir Tom is now grey and gorgeous. Today he joins the elite crew of Welsh "names" who are 70+ - including Elaine "Descent of Woman" Morgan and Margaret "Erotic Dancer" John, whom I remember as a very staid lady on Owen MD but is better known to sprightlier audiences for her dotty totty doings in Cwm Pen Ol and Barry.

Not everyone's Sian Phillips or Anthony Hopkins though.  Age Concern research reveals that a million pensioners admit to being lonely often or always.  Today the Big Lottery Fund has allocated £20m to alleviate the social isolation experienced by some older people in Wales.

The emphasis seems to be on befriending and projects that run from 3 -5 years and "developing support services to empower older people by representing their interests and obtaining the services they need."

Now befriending I understand.  When it works, it's massively enriching for everyone involved.  It helps improve confidence, create friendships and encourage socialising.  It helps control depression, anxiety and other illness.  It's a service commonly provided by voluntary community support organsations, which run on fourpence, usually headed up by a super-stressed, underpaid adminstrator, scrabbling for small grants to stay afloat, and wondering why so much public money gets eaten up by unnecessary umbrella organisations or the Assembly's cunning plans.

So let's see if the Big Lottery can show some Big Vision and invest in building the Big Society.  Don't throw away the money on duplication, or one-size-fits-all, nice office, endless meetings, jargon blather initiatives.  Give the existing groups a chance (and ditch the word "provider" while we're at it) to build up a stable base and acquire a critical mass of work and an entrepreneurial spirit which doesn't take them out of the sphere of the communities they serve.  Loneliness fades when you have friendship and respect, not reports or mission statements or fancy launches with the Minister.

Other people, not another Sector.