This week gentle reader I am going to have to ask you to do something.

Yes I know.

Even as I write that short sentence I can feel the collective blood of all three regular readers of this esteemed column drain from your faces.

Yes. Do something.

I feel your pale faces reach out a steadying hand for the table and the shockwaves register as you lower yourself into the chair.

Yes. Do something.

Your ashen expression, your blank stare, the seismic shift in your hitherto cosy world now irrevocably in place as the concept of activity, real activity seeps in to your concsciousness. I feel the pain with you. I feel it.

Yes. Do something.

Go to your laptop or smart phone type these four words into google. Loneliness. The. Peoples. Project. Do this now.

This will take you to the voting platform for a national competition in which we are finalists.

Harwich and Manningtree Standard: Joy - Johnno Casson the Warm and Toasty Club

Joy - Johnno Casson the Warm and Toasty Club

Our project is in collaboration with our beautiful partners the Warm and Toasty Club and is entitled MEMORY AFTERNOONS.

Vote for this. Ignore all other entrants. Do not read any other contestants. Do not pass go. Do not collect £200.

Now your task is done.

What you are doing is actually very important and in all seriousness our project (which sits alongside other very good causes) is very important to me. It directly addresses loneliness.

Loneliness is very real and affects all sorts of people. It can be devastating.

Loneliness and isolation act like a continuous throb of low level pain which seeps into the confidence and self esteem of everyone it touches. It’s like a drip drip drip of suffering.

That drip drip drip turns eventually into a huge wave which crushes you.

Our memory afternoons will bring people together, will offer the comfort and companionship of human company, friendly faces, music and smiling and conversation. We will tackle loneliness head-on with our chief weapons of friendliness and laughter.

If we win we will be awarded £50,000. It’s a national competition.

Thank you for reading this. Now go to your computer and vote! Leave the rest to us. Your job is done