Windfall will lead to helpline for elderly (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Windfall will lead to helpline for elderly

AUGUST 6: ZURICH'S Community Trust has donated £500,000 to set up a helpline for the elderly.

A new telephone service is to be created by Help The Aged to aid older people in times of crisis after the charity scooped a £500,000 windfall.

Funding from the Zurich Community Trust will allow the A Call In Time project to be established throughout the UK.

Over the next two years 15 pilot schemes will be launched.

Most of the trust's administration is done in Swindon, and this year the organisation won the Outstanding Service to the Community prize at the Wiltshire Business of the Year awards, organised by Newsquest, publishers of the Swindon Advertiser.

Help The Aged spokesman Laura Baynham-Hughes said: "With its future secured with the £500,000 funding, many older people will be helped to cope with the crisis trigger points in their lives."

Zurich Community Trust's older people programme manager Jane Boulton said: "The programme is proud to be working in partnership with Help the Aged on this UK wide programme which will make a real difference to the lives of isolated, vulnerable older people."

Zurich Community Trust is a charity funded by pre-tax profits from the Zurich business, a leading financial services provider, which employs about 3,000 in Swindon.