"OLD age is OK if you have friends and you are able to get out." At 96, Georgina has fewer health problems than most people half her age. Some sight and balance problems are all she has to contend with and she still lives in her own home.

However, living to almost your tenth decade, comes with a price. She has outlived her husband, her two sisters and her daughter (tragically at a young age) and most of her friends.

Despite winning the genetic lottery of health, she was "housebound and desperate for company," until she read an advert in The Herald.

Contact the Elderly, which has 126 groups across Scotland, has been offering tea, cakes and companionship to the over 75s, for more than 50 years.

Volunteer hosts invite a few guests, and their drivers into their home for a couple of hours. The minimum obligation on hosts is just once a year.

For the past two years Georgina has been attending monthly parties and has formed a close bond with her driver, Richard Heard.

"It's been an absolute godsend," she says.

"I had said to friends, I'm becoming more housebound. My friends are all dying and leaving me. I was desperate for company.

"The first time we were all spread out in the room but the next time the host had us around a table. It was wonderful.

"I think what's got to be known is that it's mainly for people who have suddenly found themselves without family and friends."

Another elderly lady said she was "drowning" in loneliness before she reached out to the charity. "When you get to my age, all you do is look back on the life you had but Contact the Elderly has given me something to look forward to, something to live for."

Liesel is first to arrive at my tea party.

Dressed in a bright pink cardigan, the 91-year-old tells me she’s from the same place as the football team, Borussia Dortmund.

I suspect she’s said that more than a few times after more than six decades living in Glasgow, where football is heavy currency.

She left Germany’s North Rhine-Westphalia region for love and never returned.

Liesl, who lives in Cardonald in Glasgow's south side, lost her husband a few years ago and in her grief, her ability to walk, unaided. She has two daughters but neither lives near.

Outgoing and chatty, she’s been to a few tea parties and says she relishes the companionship.

There are 14 groups in Glasgow and mine has travelled from the south side to my home in the city's Kelvinbridge area.

Two of the group, both in their 90s, are not feeling well on the day so I have four guests instead of six plus three volunteers, including two drivers.

A support officer with the charity comes round to my flat a few days ahead of the tea party to offer some advice.

I’m told it’s best to remove my big rug (a possible trip hazard), make sure all passageways are clear and provide smallish, easy-to-eat sandwiches and cakes.

I love baking so it’s not a chore and I’ve had a bit of help from my sister, Lorraine, whose scones are far superior to mine, and a friend with a talent for Empire Biscuits.

I’m advised to check if the group are happy for my cat, Elsie, to be milling around. As it happens, one of the group is not a fan of felines, so I despatch her to the upstairs neighbour.

The property has to have access to a ground floor toilet, or a lift as it’s likely the guests will have mobility issues.

However, volunteers could choose to host an afternoon tea at a friend’s house and sometimes, groups amalgamate for a joint tea-party at bigger venues such as museums.

Two of my guests are in wheelchairs, including Gwen, 90, from Penilee in Glasgow, but it’s simply a case of moving the furniture around. I’m told guests might also have sight problems or even early stage dementia but it’s just a case of using your common sense,

The scheme is open to anyone over the age of 75 but the charity treats everyone on a case by case basis and wouldn’t turn down a lonely 69-year-old.

Marion Morrison, who is a volunteer driver, goes every month to try to persuade one elderly lady to attend a tea party. She hasn’t been successful yet but she says even this visit gives her a boost.

If hosting a tea party isn’t your bag, there are plenty of other volunteering options such as driving the guests.

Stephen Sharp, 35, a maintenance engineer, provides a “sofa from door to door” service for Liesl. The elderly guests keep the same driver to help lessen any unease about going to a stranger’s house and there is genuine affection between the pair.

“I don’t feel like I’m having to do anything.” he says. “My charity work involves eating cake.

“You also get insights to Glasgow you never had.”

There really is no need to worry about being the perfect host. You are really just facilitating an informal get-together for elderly people with a lifetime of stories to share.

The chat covers everything from darts and Teeline shorthand to the travails of Theresa May and women’s rights. There are no uncomfortable silences, the guests find common ground and I’m kept busy with rounds of tea. Two of my guests live close to each other so a meeting is suggested.

Research suggests three quarters of older people are lonely and more than half have never spoken to anyone about how they feel.

Parties are held on a Sunday, which, evidence shows, is the loneliest day of the week for pensioners living alone.

Professor Dawn Skelton, Professor of Ageing and Health at Glasgow Caledonian University, said there are many reasons why the elderly are at risk of social isolation apart from the loss of friends and family.

"People start developing visual or hearing impairments and feel they can't connect with the world.

"If someone becomes frailer and begins falling they stop going out to see friends. They won't meet people, they are less likely to go to church.

"The other issue is, there is this underlying feeling that once they retire they have got nothing to give, they don't have anything interesting to say.

"Statistically, more and more people do live on their own, families live far away. It's a bit of a vicious circle.

"At the end of retirement, it's really important that people reach out and make new friends.

"We also know that once someone becomes lonely, depressions and loneliness go very closely together. As soon as people become socially isolated, their cognitive ability declines.

"The brain literally doesn't work if it isn't being used."

Morna O’May, of Contact the Elderly, said: “As we enter the colder, darker months of winter, the work we do becomes more important than ever.

"It is increasingly difficult for many older people to get out and about and I think we can all recognise shorter days are not always conducive to happier moods.

“The small acts of kindness shown by our volunteers have the most remarkable and lasting impact.

"Our presence has rapidly grown in cities, towns and villages throughout Scotland but we know there are many more who would benefit from our tea parties and we are determined to offer the vital lifeline of friendship to as many older people as we can.

"To do that we need to reach those people and get them involved in these free, informal and regular events. We also need more volunteers who can spare a few hours once a month, or even just once a year, for our hosts.”

If you'd like to know more, visit www.contact-the-elderly.org.uk or call 0800 716543