Grateful: Billy, 92, says the support offered by the Rainbow Foundation gives him something to look forward to
(Picture: ES Composite)A diet of cereal and bread is becoming all too common among the disadvantaged elderly in rural Wrexham, Wales. Socially isolated and too frail to go outdoors alone, they sit in the cold and live off one meal a day to try to save money on gas and electric.
“Their clothes look looser each time I see them,” said Hayley Scott, community agent for the Welsh charity Rainbow Foundation. “They’re cold all the time. They layer up with jumpers and blankets but they still sit there shivering. They need to heat the house but they won’t because they’re terrified of the bills. Even their clothes are dirty because they don’t want to spend money on washing.”
