Joyce's Story

Joyce* felt lonely and isolated and, at the Older People’s Day in 2021 referred herself to Engage Befriending.  Joyce and her volunteer got on really well and were friends for a couple of years.

At our monthly coffee morning, Joyce was talking with another Engage Befriending client about how lonely it can be at weekends.  Within about 20 minutes of the conversation starting, they had planned to meet up for lunch and since enjoyed a number of days out.

When Joyce’s volunteer had to step down, she decided that her social group was enough but wanted to keep in touch with us and so receives our monthly newsletter and is a regular at the coffee morning.

We saw her recently the Older People’s Day 2023 in Reading.  She was on the front row showing everyone how to do the chair exercises!

“It’s made me feel less isolated – it has helped to lighten my mood”.

*Names changed to protect confidentiality