“It was as if I had known her forever.” This is the ultimate praise from Bangor’s Sylvia on Anne, her Befriender, a service established by the South Eastern Trust to provide chat and companionship to those experiencing loneliness and social isolation in the community.
The service is built on connection and friendship and is evident between the pair from the moment you have the pleasure of meeting them both. What set out as a Befriending ‘match’ has grown into a shorthand of friendship and much laughter.
As Christmas presents were exchanged, 80-year-old Sylvia shared how Anne has been her Befriender for over a year. “I came to live in Bangor three years ago and didn’t really know that many people in the area. I had broken my ankle and was housebound for the first summer I was here. I didn’t get that chance to get out to meet people and I had lost my confidence quite badly,” said Sylvia.
Sylvia explained how she was on the Trust led Befriending Service list for two years when she was ‘matched’ with Anne. “We met at my home and from the moment she came in the door it was as if I had known her forever.”
Sylvia continued, “We meet once a week, we chat, we laugh. We both love history and we love animals. We just click and get on so well. Anne looks after me and I look after her.”
“The Befriender Service is fantastic; it is a really big help for anybody who is on their own and there are plenty. The Service and Anne have totally changed my life.”
Anne detailed how just over a year ago she was “gifted” her companionship with Anne through the Service.
Anne said, “I had had a brain tumour removed eight years ago and my husband had just died a couple of months before. I wasn’t on a bus route and I was isolated where we lived. I sold my house and moved to the town here in Bangor. I was going to Ards Hospital one day for an appointment and I was sitting waiting and noticed leaflets about the Befriender Volunteering Service – so I signed up, it was as simple as that.”
Anne described her connection with Sylvia as, “magic.” “Sylvia brightens me up and it is so lovely to come over to her home one day a week. You come here and you don’t want to leave again,” laughed Anne.
Volunteer Befriending Officer Carol Campbell added how the Service continued to provide invaluable assistant to many people throughout the Trust area. “The Befriender Safe and Well Service is aimed at reducing social isolation for people aged 65 and over and who live independently and alone within the Trust area. I feel personally that this is a very important service. I get to see the benefit of it on a daily basis. We do have a waiting list and we are always recruiting throughout the year.
“Anyone can apply to become a Befriender Volunteer and our team can explain how to do that once they are contacted. It is fantastic to see the bond that has formed between Anne and Sylvia, our matches really do work.”
For those interested in the Volunteer Befriender role and who would like more information on the roles available can contact the Safe and Well office on 02897 566934 or email safeandwell@setrust.hscni.net