The Great British Chai Party has been co-founded by Kiran Bhanaut and Sushma Bhanot to help tackle loneliness and social isolation within our growing aged population in this country. Although there is lots of good work being done for the elderly this issue is still not fully addressed and our aim is to arrange the tea parties as a platform to help our elderly community.
Elderly people are still confined at home, sometimes never seeing anyone for weeks or even months. Their only connection to the outside world is TV. In spite of increased communication in the modern world, the elderly population are still isolated especially the ones who live alone and don’t much contact with friends, families and the outside world.
Kiran and Sushma recognized that this was an area that needed to be addressed and that there was a growing incidence of mental illnesses and loneliness amongst the elderly and hence the idea of the Great British Chai Party was born with tea being a vehicle to bring people from all cultures together.
Throughout History, people have drunk tea and made friends or comforted each other through sharing a cup of tea. Even where language is a barrier, walls have been broken through tea drinking.
————————————– —————— ——————————-
Sushma Bhanot is a qualified pharmacist, Ayurvedic researcher, author and has worked with the elderly for many years.
Kiran Bhanaut was previously working as Senior Project Manager at the Department of Education and currently is a freelance Health and Safety and IT Services Project Management Consultant. Kiran has a vast experience working with communities especially with elderly people in the community.