Age Scotland is leading the fight against loneliness through its Christmas campaign

Tens of thousands of Scots face being alone this Christmas.

Age Scotland’s Christmas appeal is focusing on social isolation this year, after research found that 80,000 older people in Scotland said that they will feel lonely during the festive period.

The No One Should Have No One campaign was launched at the Barrhead Men’s Shed today (Tuesday). The shed is one of several in the country which aims to offer advice and support.

The project encourages men to come along to the facilities, get involved in hands-on projects or just relax and chat with other attendees.

Age Scotland chief executive Brian Sloan said: "Our latest research shows that 60,000 older Scots will spend Christmas Day alone - an increase of 50% on just two years ago.

“Winter can exacerbate feelings of loneliness as people retreat indoors, and this can have a huge impact on mental and physical health.

"We want to raise awareness of loneliness and issue a call to action to people to reach out to those who are on their own.

"We're delighted to support projects such as Barrhead Men's Shed that are making a real difference to their communities."

Alex Storrie, chairman of Barrhead Men's Shed, said: "We've got a really successful group here, but there are a lot of lonely people, and we haven't reached them all yet. I recently heard loneliness described as a disease.

“We're determined to do what we can to help people with this disease, but we can only do that with funding and support."

The campaign aims to help the charity to continue to provide companionship, advice and support for the millions who have no one to turn to. Funding is needed for services such as the men’s shed initiative, the charity’s advice line, a national telephone befriending service and other campaign work.