'You don't have to be lonely in later life'

"I just love it!" laughs Lorraine Le Sueur, 79. She is talking about her seated exercise class in Berkshire, adding: "I've never missed one."

She is one of hundreds of older people who attend weekly fitness sessions for retirees, run by Get Berkshire Active.

Research published this week revealed a sharp rise in the number of older people dying in poverty, isolation or without family who can afford funeral costs.

BBC South looked into what is being done in our communities to try and stop people becoming lonely in later life and found an army of charities and volunteers running lunch clubs, befriending services and organising outings for people aged over 60.

It was Lorraine's daughter who first suggested she join a social club, telling her "it could change your life".

She agreed to go along to the Older Person's Activity group at the Milestone Centre in Caversham just to see what it was like, as long as her sister went with her.

That was more than two years ago and she has been every week since.

She enjoys the crafts, bingo, a cooked lunch and giggles her way through the seated exercise session.

"I know I make a mess of it sometimes, but it doesn't matter, because as long as you do your exercises, that's the main thing," she said.

Kate Wiggins, who runs the exercise sessions, said Get Berkshire Active was trying to reach out to everyone in later life.

"We want to use physical activity to transform people's lives and use that power of movement to help people feel better and combat social isolation.

"We just need to get the word out there," she added.

Desi Sterritt, 86, refuses to let his Parkinson's disease stop him from exercising with the rest of the class.

He has been living with his daughter since his wife passed away and said the classes "help the loneliness".

He added: "When you get old, if you lose your partner, it can get lonely, but life moves on and you have to move with it.

"It's something to look forward to."

Desi is one of only two men in the class and Lorraine has tried and failed to get her husband to join, because he's a "very lovely" but "quiet" man.

Community social groups across the region say encouraging men to join is a constant struggle.

The charity MHA, which runs activities across Hampshire, says men often opt to have home visits from "befrienders" instead.

Ron Champion, 95, had regular visits from family but also looked forward to befriending visits from MHA's Sarah Maidment.

He had no children and lived alone in Andover after his wife Gladys passed away.

Ron said: "Sixty-five years we were married, obviously you're going to miss 'em quite a lot.

"It's a blank space I suppose really, when you're on your own.

"The loneliness part of it, it's tricky. I can imagine some people just don't cope.

"It's something that you need, to feel somebody's company."

Ron has since passed away and his family gave the BBC permission to use his interview as a memorial to him.

He was laid to rest beside his beloved wife Gladys.

"Befriender" Sarah said it was particularly hard to encourage widowed men to socialise.

"If they've lost their wives, there's no-one there to drag the men out and I think there is a danger of men sitting at home and not going out, not going to get their shopping, not even nipping outside the front door...," she said

"We have people for example who live a street away and they're both completely lonely and isolated and haven't met each other, so we identify that as an issue and maybe put on a club in that area.

"There's so much of the world out there still left to enjoy."

In Caversham, the only other man in the seated exercise class, Roger Pett, 79, said he tries to persuade people to come with him.

"I tell friends it's easy, a bit of a laugh and you can have a chat."

He then jokes about his own reasons for joining up.

"These things are called 'grab a granny'," he laughs, "so I had to come didn't I?"

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