A GROUP that campaigns successfully for older people in the Crediton area is in danger of folding unless new volunteers step forward to help run it.

Crediton and Area Senior Voice, the local branch of Devon Senior Voice, speaks out on everything that affects older people’s quality of life, from transport, health and leisure to housing, social care and rural isolation.

It is a founder member of the Crediton Dementia Action Alliance that since 2013 has been working towards improving the lives of people with dementia, and their carers, by making Crediton a dementia-friendly community.

The group has also held a series of Dementia Awareness Days, and many people will remember the day at the Boniface Centre last September when the inspirational retired GP, Dr Jennifer Bute, who has dementia, spoke of how to live with dementia rather than suffer from it.

In a series of events over the past few years the branch has championed ways of tackling the blight of rural isolation, something sadly familiar to many in the scattered parishes of the Crediton area, and preventing falls, which are frequently a cause of fractures and other unwelcome complications in older people.

The group runs a monthly programme of friendly open meetings that mix business and pleasure in the Meadow Suite at Lords Meadow Leisure Centre, with interesting speakers on a wide range of topical issues and the chance for a chat with old friends.

Branch treasurer Ron Cuthbertson said: “First of all, I’d like to pay tribute to our late chair Pauline Thomas, as we are still feeling the effects of her sad and sudden loss in the autumn.

“Also our AGM is coming up next month, and although our monthly meetings are well-attended, so far we have had nobody stepping forward as candidates to fill the vacant posts on the committee.

“But, unless we get new volunteers to help run the branch we will have to close down, which would be a huge shame. We only need a few people with the interest, experience and skills to help us carry on our worthwhile work!”

If you would like to help, please contact Mr Cuthbertson on telephone 01363 775502 or email: [email protected] .