A CHORAL spectacular at the Sheldonian Theatre will form the culmination of a month-long project by Age UK Oxfordshire to tackle loneliness.

The Voyage, a full-length choral work based on poems about loneliness by Oxfordshire composer Bob Chilcott, will be performed on Friday, March 18.

Choirs and other singing groups from across Oxfordshire will join the performance.

One of those taking part is Jerry Appleton, 76, from Carterton.

The father-of-two and grandfather of three started singing with Witney Singing for Fun group after he lost his wife Maureen two years ago.

He said: “You’ve got to get out and do something or else you’ll go under, and I love it.

“I get a real buzz out of it and it makes me feel good inside.”

Age UK Oxfordshire chief executive Paul Cann said The Voyage was a “project of love”.

He said: “I have been working on this for two years and it’s dedicated to the Campaign to End Loneliness.

“It’s inspired by the idea that we need to find a new way of telling the stories of lonely people.”

Alongside rehearsals, outreach work with young and old has been taking place around Oxfordshire as part of the campaign.

Befriending schemes involving Oxfordshire students are being set up, as well as new singing classes, including some people who have had a stroke or have dementia.

A creative writing project is also under way in which participants write short pieces on their experiences of loneliness.

A collection of those works will be launched at the Sheldonian.

Mr Cann added: “You can write letters to MPs or campaign or write policy documents and research, but we need to bring something alive.

“That was the idea of getting this wonderful composer to write a piece. I want its legacy to be getting older people into the community and together with younger people.”

According to Age UK Oxfordshire there are 35,000 older people in the county who say they often or always feel lonely, and many more who are living alone in old age.

In the run-up to Christmas, the Oxford Mail backed Age UK’s campaign to make sure fewer elderly people were alone for Christmas.

Two weeks ago the charity heard that £33,000 of funding for its Phone Friends service, in which volunteers call isolated people, would be cut by the County Council.

Proceeds from the concert will go to the service. Mr Cann said: “Another of its legacies is that in six months or 12 months, Phone Friends will still be running.”

The Voyage will be performed by three mixed-age choirs, also feature a percussion concerto and young instrumentalists.