Heart-warming moment a lonely pensioner, 78, is reduced to tears when students bring him a Christmas tree as choir sing Silent Night on his doorstep
- Terrence, 78, was brought some festive cheer at his home in Oldham yesterday
- BBC Breakfast host Dan Walker visited him with students from Oldham College
- It came after he told programme how he had been struggling with loneliness
- Terrence was left in tears as students brought him Christmas tree and sang
This is the heart-warming moment a lonely pensioner was brought to tears last night when students brought him a Christmas tree and sang Silent Night at his door.
Terrence, 78, was given some festive cheer at his home in Oldham, Greater Manchester, by BBC Breakfast host Dan Walker and Oldham College students.
They visited him after he explained earlier in the day on the programme how he had been struggling with loneliness and did not have a Christmas tree at home.
A group of carol singers from Oldham College sing Silent Night for Terrence outside his home
Mr Walker surprised him at his front door and spoke to him before introducing four students from the nearby college, one of whom was carrying the tree.
Terrence got up from his chair to say hello but was left in tears as he greeted them individually and had to get a tissue out of his pocket as they comforted him.
After the students had finished decorating the tree, Mr Walker then took him to his front door where the college choir sang Silent Night – which again left him crying.
Terrence told BBC Breakfast: ‘What used to happen, I used to go round to my mother’s on Christmas Day because I always cooked a meal for her here.
BBC Breakfast host Dan Walker comforts Terrence as he listens to the singers outside his home
Terrence was left in tears after a group of four students brought him a Christmas tree
‘I always took the thing round to her, and I used to buy her little bits all the time, like cigarettes and all this sort of stuff, and I used to parcel them all up at Christmas and put them in a pillow case and take them round to her.
‘One day, I’ll never forget her saying to me, she said, ‘Do you know, without you, bringing me my presents at Christmas, I wouldn’t have any presents would I?’ I often think about that now. People on their own now don’t get any presents from people.’
He added how he was going for Christmas dinner with Nancy, a 90-year-old woman with dementia whom he met through his work with the Age UK Oldham.
Terrence had appeared on BBC Breakfast earlier in the day to talk about his loneliness and depression, but also how his work with the charity was helping.
One of the students carried a tree into Terrence’s home to surprise him in Oldham yesterday
The visit came after Terrence had appeared on BBC Breakfast earlier in the day (pictured)
He said: ‘I always think with anything, unless you’ve actually been there you don’t know what it was like. I didn’t know what it was like to have depression until I got it.’
Age UK revealed last week that millions of elderly people in Britain may not like Christmas because they see it as the loneliest time of year.
The charity suggested more than three million older people may not be looking forward to the festive season, with around 200,000 spending it alone.
It also predicts 170,000 widows and widowers face Christmas without their spouse for the first time this year. Age UK polled nearly 2,000 people aged 65 and over.