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I was really excited recently to meet up with my old Sunday football coach. I hadn’t seen Lenny for years. I was in awe of him playing for Beckfield Rangers FC. His blood vessel-bursting passion was so infectious. I remember his screams of encouragement at me to stop giving the ball away. It seldom worked, but he had a gift of making us very average players feel like world beaters. He’d run onto the pitch to plead with the referee to have mercy on us after we made a bad foul. That never worked either. But we loved that Lenny cared so much about our unremarkable little team. Always supplying endless orange slices to revive us at half time.Ìý

And drying out our awful yellow kit on his sagging washing line. They were happy days.ÌýÌý

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So it was heartbreaking to hear how hard Lenny’s life’s been since then. He told me he was left grief-stricken after the tragic death of his beloved wife and youngest son. He became a bit lost. Increasingly socially isolated. Or, as he put it:Ìý‘Drowning in loneliness’.

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Thankfully things have been better for him recently. Lenny’s thrown himself back into community life. Going on walks with friends and neighbours. Attending local gatherings. Like a small friendship group who meet in a cosy allotment shed. Lenny’s story was a stark reminder to me that the loneliness disease can strike anyone - regardless of background or character. He certainly challenged me to keep being part of the cure. To never tire of creating friendship-making opportunities for people where I live.

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So I’ve been inspired to make a community lunch happen. And keep organising games of volleyball in our local park. I’ve realised that these are among the best things my faith can ever stir into action. Creating spaces and places for people to belong and find companionship - regardless of belief or religious affiliation. For me, it’s a non-negotiable part of being a Jesus follower. One of the most powerful ways I can ever live up to his challenge of loving my neighbours. As for Lenny, I’ve encouraged him to organise a Becky Rangers reunion. A night of wild stories and loads of laughs. We were good at that, Zoe. It was just the football we struggled with.

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