London Mayor Boris Johnson joins tea party with Hackney girl Barbara Windsor

London's Mayor Boris Johnson with Barbara Windsor and senior citizens at today's Contact the Elderly tea party. Photograph: Louis Emanuel

London Mayor Boris Johnson and Barbara Windsor broke into song as they launched an appeal for volunteers to support older citizens from Hackney at a tea party in neighbouring Islington today.

Volunteers dropped off senior citizens at the event organised by the Contact the Elderly charity, which has received funding from Team London, the Mayor’s volunteer programme.

Hackney girl Barbara Windsor, who grew up in Stoke Newington, initiated an impromptu sing-along with all the guests and praised the goodwill of the volunteers. She said: “There’s some lovely young people here today. It’s not often you hear about them. You normally only ever read about the bad ones.”

Harry Gilmore, 81, who lives in sheltered accommodation in Hackney, run by Age UK, said: “I’ve been coming to these afternoon tea parties for about four months and every place I’ve been to they treat me with the upmost respect.”

Time for tea: London's Mayor makes himself at home. Photograph: Louis Emanuel

Mayor Boris Johnson told the Hackney Citizen: “I think this is a wonderful organisation and it’s fantastic to see young people mobilised to come and do a simple thing – make a pot of tea for isolated old people and hear what they’ve got to say.”

In a call for more young people to volunteer, he added: “This is all part of what we’re trying to achieve at Team London: to put the village back into the city.”

Age UK is another beneficiary of Team London cash, receiving £203,000 to fund MiCommunity, a project to help get the elderly online.

London’s 47 year-old Mayor threw his weight behind the project in Hackney, saying: “It’s absolutely vital that the elderly get involved. The internet is something which brings interest and pleasure to people who are otherwise excluded.”

He went on to tell the Hackney Citizen he can “just about” use the internet himself. When asked if he gets his press team to tweet for him he replied: “I can’t discuss that for security reasons.”

In Hackney there are 8,582 people over 75 years old, 1,620 (19%) of those see family and friends less than once a week (2001 census).

The Contact The Elderly charity has two groups in Hackney, and is currently asking for more volunteers so that it can set up more groups. For more information or to volunteer go to Contact the Elderly.

For more about the London Mayor’s volunteering scheme go to Team London.