A Royal Voluntary Service lunch club welcomes Countdown star.

Countdown co-presenter Rachel Riley visited the Royal Voluntary Service Mill End lunch club in Rickmansworth for a short film #MakeADifference to inspire more people to volunteer in feeding and supporting older people.

The film shows Rachel as she visits the lunch club to meet volunteers and diners, before she helped serve lunch herself. It’s part of a new campaign from the Royal Voluntary Service and Yakult, a Japanese company with gut bacteria products, to highlight the importance of volunteers at lunch and social clubs.

Rachel Riley said: “Older people are often by themselves and it can difficult to motivate yourself to make a nice hot meal. Loneliness is one of the worst things in terms of mental health and general wellbeing, so getting people together and having somewhere you can look forward to going to is fantastic.

“The volunteers themselves get a lot out of it too, because they get to know the people who come in every week.”

The video comes after new research which shows 955,464 older people in the UK rely on their ready meals and convenience foods to keep them fed, and 23 per cent of elderly people skipping one of their daily meals at least three times a week.

It is suspected that loneliness is the main reason why a pensioner eating habits may alter. Around 22 per cent of over 70s claimed they ate all their daily meals alone each week, and over 26 per cent of people over 80 said the same.

Kay Francis, 95, who attended a lunch club for over two years said: “I wouldn’t leave the house if it wasn’t for the lunch club. I’m blind, so getting out and about is really difficult but the Royal Voluntary Service provide a five-star service – they take me to and from the club where I can enjoy delicious food and wonderful company. I would be so lonely without it.”

The charity has over 20,000 volunteers but is looking for more volunteers to continue catering for the needs of elderly members.