If I hadn't seen such riches...

Please note: this post is 111 months old and The Cares Family is no longer operational. This post is shared for information only

A lyric from a James song, first released in 1989, is not the most conventional starting point for thinking about social isolation in modern cities in 2015.

But over the past few months – as we've been delving deeper into the factors that can lead to people feeling lonely and cut off in later life, and what we can all do to combat that growing social challenge – one memorable line has returned to my mind time and again.

"If I hadn't seen such riches I could live with being poor".

This is a lyric that I've mentioned in meetings and research sessions with the various groups (Nesta, The Big Lottery, Renaisi and others) helping South London Cares and our sister charity North London Cares to understand why community networks of young professionals and older neighbours sharing time, laughter and new experiences mean something to people.

And on Older People's Day, it's a lyric which, to me at least, gets to the heart of the question of how we think about ageing in this country; how we help people to live better lives, not just longer lives – through new connections that harness the energy and passion of local people, businesses, councils and voluntary organisations working together.

Because so many of the people we work with have lived the richest lives you could imagine. They have most amazing stories to tell, exhilarating tales full of love and heartbreak and adventure and wonder. By the time you reach 70, 80, 90 years old, how can you not have had searing experiences and hold dear deep, powerful memories?

'Older people' is too narrow a term to define the ages between 60 and 100. But many of the people in our network have fought a war, run businesses, lived through economic depressions, built lives and families in local communities. Like anyone they've kissed frogs and found princes, they've felt vibrancy and colour. They've lived.

And they continue to live in the most amazing city in the world. London is home to people from every continent, speaking every language, culture and energy coming out of its every paving stone.

But imagine if you felt like that city wasn't really for you anymore; if its blistering pace, its iPhones, its anonymity, its newly redeveloped estates and pubs, its unfamiliar terrain were no longer home, but an altogether alien place. That's the poverty of isolation – feeling like your home is not your home anymore.

If we look around us, it's everywhere. Isolation amongst older people is, objectively, one of the greatest challenges of our age.

That's why South London Cares and North London Cares seek to soften that feeling of disconnection by building a community network of young professionals and older neighbours (who have so, so much to gain from one another) to hang out with and help one another.

We deploy the resources all around us – the new businesses that are transforming our streets, newly arrived Londoners, spaces which can otherwise go underused during evenings and weekends – to build a vibrant social network from which everyone can feel the richness of life again.

Over the coming months we'll be helping to promote some of that richness in our neighbourhoods through a new series of films, as well as our regular social media channels. So join us on Facebook and Twitter, and through a social club or Love Your Neighbour friendship, feel part of the community, and share in the continued richness of this most amazing city and our most inspiring neighbours.