The Marmalade Trust is an award-winning loneliness charity for all ages, dedicated to raising awareness of loneliness and supporting people to find new social connections. Since 2013, they have directly helped thousands of people and have reached millions more. Their mission is simple: to create a society where we recognise that loneliness exists and support each other to make new connections.​

Age UK’s 2024 report, You are not alone in feeling lonely, presented new evidence about the scale of the loneliness challenge among people aged 65 and over - 270,000 older people in England go a week without speaking to a friend or family member. Loneliness and social isolation are year-round problems but winter, and Christmas especially, can be particularly tough - 1 million older people say they are more isolated at Christmas than any other time of the year. Routine public services winding down, shops closing early or shutting completely, combined with harsher weather conditions, shorter days, and changes in people’s health and wellbeing often make it harder to sustain social connections.