LONELINESS and what we can do to help tackle it is not a subject Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt is usually associated with, followed as he is wherever he goes nowadays by hecklers and protesters.

A visit to the Orchard Club at Haslewey Community Centre, was no exception, as a small group of lack-lustre protesters gathered outside as he exited the centre in Wey Hill.

There were just three token protestors, one dressed in fox-hunting garb, blowing a bugle as Mr Hunt, smiling and unfazed, drove away.

The MP?for South West Surrey, normally followed by a sousaphone tuba man, must be very used to ad hoc protests, whether he is being hounded by junior doctors or dogged by anti-austerity protesters outside Tory party conferences.

However the protesters seemed to be unsure as to what they were protesting about on this occasion, and most people were unaware of the episode outside.

The main focus of Mr Hunt’s visit was one of the Orchard Club’s latest initiatives, a friendship group on Thursdays and Fridays, where people can socialise and play cards, play dominoes, have lunch, take part in movement and exercise sessions, or just connect over simple games such as Connect 4.

Mr Hunt greeted and chatted with Orchard Club regulars, staff and volunteers.

He told The Herald: “This is such a fantastic initiative, creating social bonds for people.

“We are a very carrying society, but there are something like five million people in the UK whose main form of company is TV and we have got to be extremely careful that we suddenly do not have a loneliness epidemic.”

Orchard Club manager Hilary Owen said there were links between loneliness and social isolation with general physical and mental ill health.

She said: “There are clear links between the deterioration of mental and physical health and loneliness, and with an ageing population this situation is only going to worsen.

“Preventative services such as ours support people to live independently for as long as possible and helps defer expensive intervention and care.”

She had invited Mr Hunt to visit after reading a letter in The Herald from him when he stated one of his priorities this year would be to help combat loneliness.

Mrs Owen added: “As a consequence I wrote to him and invited him to visit The Orchard Club, where one of our desires is to do exactly the same.”

After visiting the friendship group, Mr Hunt made a speech in Haslewey Community Centre’s Wey Terrace and Cafe´.

He said he was “thrilled” the Orchard Club was thriving in Haslemere, and thanked Hilary, saying: “People like her do not get enough recognition for their work”,

He also praised the 70-plus volunteers who do “such an amazing job”.

Also in attendance during the Tory MP’s visit were Haslewey Community Centre manager Kerry Morren-Jeffs, Orchard Club chairman Philip Currie, Haslemere Deputy Mayor Sahran Abeysundara, town councillor Penny Bradley, and borough councillor Jim Edwards, who is also a town councillor.

ABOUT the Orchard Club for older people:

• Services include a lunch served in The Wey Terrace and Cafe, exercise classes, interest and social groups

• Initiatives introduced in the last few years include two weekly friendship groups, a visiting ‘outreach lunch’ at High Lane Community Centre, to the north of the town

• The club has a minibus and a wheelchair access car to help people get to and from Haslewey Community centre, as well as offering a weekly shopping trip

• Coming soon - a telephone befriending service and a monthly ‘community friendship’ supper.