New charity Christmas single released to combat loneliness

THE team at a construction company, Strata, has been working together this year to raise money for their charity partner of the year, b:friend. B:friend’s mission is to end loneliness and social isolation amongst the elderly in South Yorkshire and NE Derbyshire through community befriending and social clubs.

The team at Strata are always thinking of creative, fun, and challenging ways to support their charity partner of the year. This year already, they’ve jumped from planes, completed the Total Warrior challenge, and even ziplined through over the Penrhyn Quarry at speeds of up to 100 mph!

Andrew Bradley, Pre Development Engineer at Strata, who is also a professional songwriter, producer and musician has kindly written and recorded a Christmas single, Footprints In The Snow. 

The Strata team produced a Christmas music video featuring older neighbours, to help raise awareness of the charity and we are even hoping for it to make an appearance in the charts. It’s great to see the Strata team and the neighbours coming together to create something so special for the charity. 

The song and the video will be released today. Supporters will be able to download it for 99p and all proceeds will go to b:friend. The team is also asking people to share and stream the track in December as they are aiming to make it to number 1 in the charts by Christmas.

The public will be able to download Footprints In The Snow to support b:friend from today: https://linktr.ee/andrewbradleymusic.

Andrew said:

“We had a lot of fun filming the music video and the neighbours were absolute superstars during the shoot. Acting isn’t really my thing but we had no need to worry and it was a great day and experience for all involved. We just need your support through social media, radio and local TV stations to help push this campaign as far as we can to help raise awareness for the charity and maybe make a push to break into the charts.” 

Colette Bunker, b:friend CEO, said:

“b:friend are so excited about Footprints In The Snow entering the running for Christmas number 1. Christmas can be an incredibly lonely time for our older neighbours and we feel like this song not only captures that but also the importance of creating meaningful community connections which is what b:friend exists for. 

“Our older neighbours absolutely loved being involved in the music video. Doing the shoot at one of our social clubs is a great way of showcasing how b:friend can make a difference in people’s lives. We hope that this catchy song can help people take notice of our work and we are really grateful to Andy and the team at Strata for making this happen.

“No one should have no one. Since its launch in Doncaster in 2017, b:friend has been working to reduce the social isolation experienced by older neighbours through 1:1 and group befriending. Our charity’s aim is to re-engage individuals with the people and places around them, improve well-being and limit the long-term health implications of loneliness, transform an individual’s self-value, reduce their isolation and enable them to build resilience in later life.

“B:friend currently works with around 1,000 older neighbours across South Yorkshire and NE Derbyshire. We primarily support those aged 65+ stuck alone behind closed doors, who may not speak to anyone else for weeks at a time and who are otherwise disconnected from their local community.

“Our volunteer befrienders pop in once a week for an hour for a cuppa and a chat with an older neighbour living locally, creating meaningful community connections. We also bring neighbours together through our weekly Social Clubs across SY, where they share skills and take part in new activities based on the Five Ways to Well-being, from dancing and games to crafts and cultural appreciation sessions.”