Help make Reading a friendlier place

Reading Voluntary Action annnounces its Let's Make Reading Friendlier event.

It is part of the Champions to end Loneliness campaign which aims is to explore ways to alleviate loneliness and social isolation.

The event will be held on Wednesday, February 21 between 3pm and 8pm at Reading Town Hall in Blagrave Street, Reading town centre, Berkshire.

The focus of the event will be on taking action to create change at both a personal and organisational level.

The first half of the event will be for organisations across all sectors. The second half will be more targeted at members of the public, to enter into the conversation alongside local organisations.

Here's a timetable of the evening

• 3pm - 5pm - How organisations can work better together to address shared issues around loneliness. Everyone is welcome to this part of the conference but the focus is on people representing voluntary sector, public sector and private sector organisations, with the aim of improving collaborative approaches and information sharing around this common cause.

• 5pm - 5.45pm - Market Place, Networking and Refreshments Open session where all organisations with relevant information to share around the themes of making Reading a more friendly, welcoming and less lonely place are invited to have a stall to promote what they are doing to encourage partnership working, awareness of services and recruitment of volunteers where appropriate.

• 5.45pm - 7:30pm - Let's Make Reading Friendlier - Public Event Speakers and discussion groups about how members of the public can take action to reduce loneliness, find out about what is going on and engage with organisations to identify ways to make Reading a more friendly, less lonely place.

7.30pm - 8pm - Networking and Market Place