Press & awards

North London Cares, a community charity, recruits young professionals, often graduates with families elsewhere, to visit older neighbours in Camden and Islington. It says this reduces loneliness and isolation among both the volunteers and those they help.

"We need more of this type of interaction across our regions. Civil society can lead the way by being innovative and responsive to the changing demands — and language — of the world around them. This means moving beyond the traditional ‘service’ model defined by the provision of ‘help’ given by staff or volunteers to ‘clients’ — in favour of a more mutual approach."

"With the right investment and co-production, we can build networks of support around people, reducing their social isolation and increasing their wellbeing. In London, young people and older people are working together to create a range of activities as part of North London Cares such as dance parties, new technology workshops, back to work business visits, choirs, games nights, pub clubs, podcast clubs and more."

"Alex Smith, who runs community networks in Manchester and London, says that it’s important to look at how segregated our neighbourhoods have become, as the housing crisis drives old and young apart. “Where I feel the generations have become estranged from one another is in the lack of sharing time, laughter, experiences, relationships, everyday interaction,” he says. “That reduction of interaction – and therefore dialogue – occurs because of a shortage of mixed housing, lack of public squares, businesses that undervalue both youth and later-life experience, and a national culture and debate that stereotypes millennials and baby boomers as diametrically opposed.”"

But this disconnection is fixable. Mixed-age housing developments and public services could make a difference. And it’s a problem we all have some capacity to solve. By spending time with people who are not like us – people whose age, life experiences, class and views on the world may differ substantially from our own – we can show that people from across perceived divides have so much to gain from one another.

Watch our founder Alex talk about why he started North London Cares, how it's developed and how people and community really do power health. 

"Resolving the question of what the state can and ought to do is relatively easy compared with the much knottier problem of how to create a society that has an abundance of the things – love, companionship, emotional support – that the state can never hope to provide. Look to civil society, and there are important clues. North London Cares is a charity that matches older people and younger professionals to provide each other with companionship. "

"We love it when a single little moment offers a microcosm of why we do what we do at North London Cares. Lil and Sean – friends through both our Social Clubs and Love Your Neighbour programmes – got together in the middle of rapidly-changing north London to share stories with a wider audience. The pair, who initially met a year ago through our social cltubs and who have since become friends, joined a Radio 5 Live special on loneliness – and how to combat it."

"Spend time you’d otherwise waste on Netflix volunteering at North London Cares, a charity that runs a Love Your Neighbour scheme, connecting young professionals with elderly neighbours who might need help or just a chat over a cuppa. (There’s also one for south London)."

"I realised I didn't have many stories from older people as they don't tend to travel by Tube. I spent a day with North London Cares and South London Cares, two charities which bring together older Londoners and their younger neighbours. We went on the Tube to the London Transport Museum for a day out. It really opened my eyes to how challenging the Tube is for people who aren't as mobile."

Polly Keane, 30, from Suffolk, volunteers with befriending network North London Cares, a charity connecting older and younger people. “I love visiting Audrey every week,” she said. “We’ve struck up a great, easy-going friendship. We also listen to each other’s problems – Audrey always has great advice. And most importantly we make each other laugh.”

"The neighbourliness focus of North and South London Cares is amazing, and something that many others could learn from, rather than focusing on one 'beneficiary' group. In those sister charities, everybody is a beneficiary and a helper, because it is about relationships."

There is huge scope for younger volunteers to support older people with their care and support needs, improving outcomes whilst reducing the burdens on employed staff. So in the capital, North London Cares organises social clubs that enable the young and old to: ‘hang out, share laughter, time and some of London’s exciting experiences.’ But the benefits are real: an independent evaluation showed that 81% of the neighbours in the network feel better connected to other people as a result of their participation in the Cares family, proving their mental health and wellbeing.

Ex-Islington mayor Barry Edwards joined volunteers from charities North London Cares and South London Cares on the ten-and-a-half hour walk. Barry has raised more than £600 so far for North London Cares, which brings together younger and older people in communities to combat isolation and depression.

North London Cares, a volunteer-led initiative helping isolated older people, has recently used evaluation evidence to convince backers to help it open a south London branch.

Ever wondered who your neighbours are? North London Cares organises meet-ups between young professionals and their older neighbours in Islington and Camden. Try out one of their cooking clubs or pottery painting classes, where you can hang out and learn from those who need a bit of laughter in their life. Or try their Love Your Neighbour scheme, which matches you with a neighbour for fortnightly visits.

It’s easy to become isolated in a big city like London, but charity North London Cares is working to build a sense of community by bringing together young professionals and their older neighbours at regular social events and through one-to-one activities. Founder Alex Smith is adamant it’s not a “befriending” scheme as the benefits are two-way, with the younger volunteers getting as much out of the interactions as the older participants. A similar scheme has been launched in south London.

"Love Your Neighbour helps to connect people who may not ordinarily have met, thereby helping to soften the unsettling effects of globalisation, gentrification, digitisation and urban transience, factors which can accelerate isolation and loneliness in London. Kathleen said that the scheme has reinforced her faith in the kindness of people."

In London, groups such as North London Cares seek to connect older people and younger people so they can “share a little extra time, laughter, practical help and human companionship”. As well as donating, you can volunteer to be one of the people who hangs out with older people to help change their lives.

North London Cares' neighbours and volunteers Chloe, Lynda, Fred, Paul, Lexine, and our staff team, feature in this lovely short documentary about our work. Check out our Men's Cooking classes at Abbey Community Centre and our Saturday night dance in King's Cross.

“l love coming here,” says Mr Crowson. “We learn a new recipe every week and it gets me out and meeting interesting people instead of sitting at home looking at four walls all day. I was talking to a couple of students the other day. One of them had been to India and Dubai; another had just got a job in a film company. Young people really are adventurous and go-getters these days.” North London Cares is not a healthcare charity and makes no claims about keeping older people healthy or reducing the strain on GP surgeries and A&E departments. Yet a growing number of health professionals and researchers believe that’s exactly what “intergenerational activities” like this can and do achieve."

"There must be a lot of people in situations like Fred who need a little bit of extra time, a little extra companionship, and a lot of people like me who've got a little bit of extra time to help out a local neighbour. So we set up North London Cares four years ago to try and bring those two different groups together - young professionals and older neighbours - particularly in a rapidly-changing city like London."

"North London Cares is a brilliant initiative that has connected 1,200 professional people to 1,200 older neighbours. A South London Cares parallel charity is now also operational. [Founder Alex Smith]... argues that migration, gentrification, digitisation and commercialisation have disrupted once familiar and stable communities. Older people have become invisible in their own fragmented neighbourhoods. [It's time to] roll out the North London Cares franchise across the country."

“There’s a whole lot of people aged between 60 and 90 years old who have lived in the community their whole lives, have a deep affinity with the neighbourhood and have very deep roots but very few connections. There is another group of younger people who have hundreds of connections but not deep roots – that’s not healthy for the community."

"Government should be doing more to support civil society organisations that promote integration and shared understanding. For example, North London Cares matches young professionals with older people in a way that builds young people’s understanding of the history and heritage of the place in which they live and older people’s understanding of the more ethnically mixed younger generation."

"Alex Smith, 32, set up an intergenerational volunteering project, North London Cares, in 2011. It brings together young professionals with local older residents to provide mutual connection and companionship. He believes the discourse on intergenerational conflict is too simplistic: “In the modern world there aren’t enough opportunities for people from across the generational and social divides to interact.”

"We’re currently doing some work with the brilliant North and South London Cares. As an organisation, they are all about issues which are hard to measure, understand and control for. They look at loneliness, isolation and disconnection, and are focused on very human and relational approaches to tackle them."

"Look for the untapped potential in communities. North London Cares recognised many young Londoners are well-connected to peers yet often isolated in their immediate communities, without family nearby. Amongst them are older neighbours, often isolated but rooted in their area. They successfully made the link between the two groups, and have a packed schedule bringing together younger and older neighbours."

"Some charities have already got to grips with innovative ways to bring younger age-groups into volunteering. North London Cares recruits young people through social and professional networks and by word of mouth, and invites them to social events with older people. The charity is constantly working to remove barriers to volunteering by doing as much as it can online, cutting bureaucracy, and holding events after work and at weekends."

"Our volunteers don’t do the things that make life liveable, such as washing people, clothing and cleaning etc., but they do do the things that make life worth living – human interaction, learning new things, friendship cultural exchange. London is an increasingly anonymous city, and so many people are doing their own thing: North London Cares tries to enable a resurgence of neighbourliness."

"I took him to a hairdresser that he'd been to before, and that I'd been going to since I was a kid – so we had that in common – and he said that the interaction helped to change his outlook on life, even with a short interaction. There are a lot of people who don't have social networks of friends and family around them, and a lot of people like me who live in a local area and can give small amounts of time to help their neighbours."

"It was great to meet the people involved in North London Cares. To be honest I was astounded by the work being done by this organisation, it's just so impressive. There are so many young people from about 18 upwards, boys and girls, involved. These volunteers are great examples of how young people can help the older members of their community."

"It was a privilege to spend time with each one of our heroes. Some didn’t need much interviewing, and were happy raconteurs, camera or no. Others’ warmth, calmness and wisdom shone through. Whatever our neighbours wanted to give of themselves, we tried to capture – and to weave into a set of stories, all unique but all connected."

"North London Cares (NLC) is a community network established in 2011 which aims to mobilise a new generation of volunteers from among young professionals to support their older neighbours in need of a little extra time, practical help, social connection and human companionship."

"A community network that connects young people with their elderly neighbours is celebrating signing up 700 volunteers. Hundreds of people aged between 20 and 30 have signed up to spend time with older neighbours, either by visiting them at home or meeting up at one of the initiative’s events."

"Tackling this challenge is going to require a huge effort from policymakers, families and communities. Good work is already being done, with clinical commissioning groups and local authorities referring to myriad organisations to make interventions. And we can all make a difference right away. In this isolating weather, in particular, individuals can look out for older neighbours or volunteer through a local charity. Because even Dave Elvis gets lonesome sometimes."

“A lot of people took to the tables, people in their 20s were playing people in their 80s. But it was something special when Fred Rooke and Quan Tbao played in the final. It was a fantastic game, all the volunteers and spectators really cheered them on. And every single person asked when the next one will be.” One woman tried ping pong for the first time aged 92."

""North London Cares is asking both young professionals and older residents to get involved with Matchday Mornings, a new Saturday group bringing together people of different ages to discuss the beautiful game. [NLC] would like to see the group watch matches together, discuss tactics, memories of great matches and players and questionable decisions from the referee."

"They have helped her get out of the house during evenings when she became lonely and they have provided her with a trusted network of volunteers who she now calls friends. North London Cares was very happy to deliver her a Christmas hamper, donated by the local newspaper the Islington Tribune, to demonstrate that the community cared for her at a difficult time."

"A survey of more than 450 older people (often in high rise social housing) in the London borough of Islington found that although many suffered from poor health and long-term illnesses which could be exacerbated by hot weather, most did not treat potential problems from heat waves as seriously as those from cold weather."

"We recruit young professional volunteers to spend a bit of time supporting their older neighbours, but also to create social connections in group activities where younger people and older people come together to share some time together, share some stories together."

“This is a big step for North London Cares as it’s our first long-term investment,” said Alex Smith, founder of NLC. “We were one of only seven groups in the country to secure the funding so it’s also a big endorsement of our work.”

"Sarah Gaughan, 27, has just started her new position as volunteer programme coordinator at North London Cares, a community network that matches young professionals with isolated people who live in Islington and Camden. Sarah will be running current projects as well as creating new initiatives."

"'We went to an Italian restaurant for her birthday and had cake,' she explained. It made such a difference for her. She surprised herself in managing to get out of the flat and was thrilled she didn’t have to be in her wheelchair. Something as little as that put a smile on her face.' Lauren also benefited from their friendship. 'I’ve had to learn that slower pace. I’ve always been busy and rushed but it makes me less stressed.'"

"The Evening Standard’s Dispossessed Fund is making another £1 million gift to London. The money will tackle poverty in almost every borough by boosting the work of 66 grassroots groups who help the city’s poorest people..."

""As our populations continue to age, and especially as our budgets continue to diminish, we need to develop new strategies for how we finance our loved ones through comfortable, healthy and happy longer lives."

"On the Harvist Estate in Holloway the North London Cares street party on Tuesday also defied the rain to see face painting, an Arsenal in the Community penalty shootout competition and bouncy castles – as well as lots of food and drink."

"“Islington is all about diversity and it was great to celebrate that richness by bringing together a school, a football club, a business, a leisure centre, a martial arts group, a church and a cultural group; working class, middle class, old, young, black, white.”

"Those small, personal interactions can have a really positive effect in people's lives, providing the connection, comfort, companionship and care many of our more isolated neighbours need."

"That’s what North London Cares is all about – recruiting people through existing social networks to harness the power of civic participation, and creating flexible, accessible, social, fun and rewarding volunteering opportunities for people."

"Regardless of how much stick the Big Society has gotten over time, there is a vibrant, buzzing, healthy social/community action ecosystem in Britain today...Organisations like North London Cares in London, a community network matching volunteers with volunteering opportunities close to their homes and workplaces."