DEVON County Council has created a unique twist on the ’12 Days of Christmas’ after a study revealed that nearly one in every five people aged over 75 in the UK go three months or longer with no one to share a meal with, according to analysis by Bournemouth University’s Ageing and Dementia Research Centre.

Estimates suggest that between 15,000 to 19,000 people over 65 in Devon experience intense loneliness. Around 38,000 experience what’s described as mild loneliness.

Yet the largest age group of all to experience loneliness, identified in a recent BBC survey, are younger people aged 16 to 24. It can lead to health problems and can be as detrimental to some people as lifelong smoking and alcoholism.

As a result of the surveys, Devon County Council has come up with an alternative 12 Days of Christmas.

Starting last Saturday on December 1, the council started posting a different clip every other day, running up to Christmas Eve, suggesting a different thing that people can do to combat loneliness – to help themselves, or to help others in their communities.

The campaign has ideas to appeal across all ages.

Some might be small things – encouraging people to think of others – but some will take a little more of a concerted effort to lift ones’ self from loneliness.

None underestimate the scale of the challenge for some.

To see the tips online visit http://devon.cc/umqw3

As well as these ideas, the council has other things that people can do to help themselves or others on our webpages, www.devon.cc/loneliness

As part of the campaign, the council is encouraging people to use the hashtags #EndLoneliness and #WeAreDevon to join the conversation.