It was encouraging to read your article on the Friends of the Elderly (FOTE) campaign to address loneliness among older people (Nov 18).

I hope that your readers will follow the suggestions for being a friend to an older neighbour. Unfortunately, many isolated older people, who may be housebound due to illness or disability, are effectively invisible to neighbours who want to help them.

There are also many people who would like to befriend an older person, but whose lifestyles mean that they do not cross paths.

Brighton & Hove Impetus Neighbourhood Care Scheme (NCS), which I manage, is one of many befriending schemes across Sussex that enable people to support older people who they would not otherwise meet.

NCS currently has 200 volunteers visiting 200 older people and people with disabilities, so we are in a good position to know the benefits of befriending not only to the people visited but also to the volunteers.

Here’s what a 93-year-old woman said of her visitor: “He’s filled a tremendous gap. I feel human again.”

And here’s a younger volunteer: “I now meet up with someone who has different views, background and interests to anyone else I know. Visiting is never a chore and I feel welcomed every time I see her.”

To know more can visit our website www.bh-impetus.org or contact us by phone on 01273 775888 or e-mail ncs@bh-impetus.org.

We would be delighted to hear from them.

Sean de Podesta, Brighton & Hove Neighbourhood Care Scheme