A Time for Sharing
Are you an older person living alone who feels lonely and isolated? Age UK Cambridgeshire and Peterborough (Age UK CAP) volunteers would like to share their time with you.
Age UK CAP aims to reduce loneliness and isolation in later life by sharing time together, offering friendship and support in the form of regular contact with fully trained and carefully screened volunteers. Contact usually consists of a weekly visit to your home or a telephone call—telephone befriending started during the pandemic but has proved so popular it has been continued.
I reached out to Age UK CAP myself when I was living in a remote area and felt very isolated and depressed. Having someone visit me once a week to share an hour of their time with me, made a great difference to my life. Age UK CAP tries to match volunteers and clients as well as they can and I found I have a great deal in common with my befriender and, although I have now moved to another area, we remain in contact and I hope we always will.
It costs nothing to receive this help but it will bring new people into your life and give you something to look forward to. A volunteer can offer conversation and advice, and perhaps help you with correspondence or phone calls. They might know how you can access other services and support, or you might simply want to share reminiscences with them and look at old photos, or play a game of cards.
If you are aged 65 years or over and would like to receive a visitor or a friendship phone call, contact Age UK CAP 01733 554963 or email sharingtime@ageukcap.org.uk. Alternatively, you can call the helpline 0300 666 9860 between 9am-3pm Monday to Friday.
I realised I could become a volunteer myself and help another lonely person so I became a telephone befriender. I can honestly say I enjoy my weekly chats with a very interesting lady in Cambridge and, as well as offering a service, I have made a friend. Age UK CAP is always in need of volunteers for their Telephone Befriending and Sharing Time Services. Please contact them if you would like to share your time with a lonely, isolated older person:
- Sharing Time Volunteer – providing regular contact by visiting an older person in their home (approx. 1 hour, once a week).
- Telephone Befriending Volunteer – providing regular contact with an older person by phone (at least 20 mins, once a week).
For more information, please email volunteering@ageukcap.org.uk. Or telephone 01223 221925
–Carol Browne.
Author Carol Browne 