A CARE home boss has appealed for others to embrace a scheme to boost elderly people who face spending Christmas Day alone.

Julie Curtis, from the Delamere home, inWalton, started the Care-4-Christmas campaign two years ago. She offers any empty beds there to people who would otherwise be alone.

This year, Delamere has only one room available, but Julie has urged other care homes to join the crusade.

She said: “It has been a huge success. This is something I feel passionately about. There are many elderly in this area andagoodnumberare alone.

“It is a horrible time to be on your own. Inviting them to stay for a night or two, or just to have Christmas dinner, we can make a big difference. In future, I would like to see a big joint effort. If everyone joined the scheme we could help so many people avoid that loneliness over the festive season.”

Another driving force behind the campaign was to take away the fear factor surrounding care homes.

Julie added: “So many elderly people see them as places people go to die, but that isn’t the case. They can be lovely places’’ Corner House, in Clacton, and Corner Lodge, in Jaywick, are also inviting the elderly in.

Director of the homes, Rahul Jagota, said: “It is a great way to spread our services. We have set a date for people to have a Christmas meal with us. It would be great to see more homes doing this sort of thing.”

Care home bosses interested in organising a coordinated Care-4-Christmas campaign can contact Julie on 01255 85236.