Beatrice’s
Sightline Story
I have been a telephone befriender with Sightline for 9 months now. I have Greaves’ Disease; a condition which mainly affects my thyroid but also my right eye some time ago. I had an operation to rectify the problem with my eye and I can distinctly remember the feelings of being anxious and scared without sight in that eye for a period of time.
That experience and helping my mother who has vision loss, motivated me to get in touch with Sightline after seeing a post about the volunteering opportunity on social media.
I am a teacher at a primary school, so my days are extremely busy but the calls with my befriendee are scheduled for early on a Monday evening which fits in perfectly for us both.
I speak with a lovely lady called Maya who has had limited vision from around the age of eighteen. She’s in her mid-fifties now and our calls are going really well; I love the variety of the conversations we’re having.
We both have children and have recently discovered our husbands’ mutual love of snooker, so chat about our families a lot.
We both enjoy watching TV soaps and there’s always some drama in Corrie or Emmerdale to pore over week by week!
There are differences in our interests too but that just provides more talking points. Maya is quite an outdoorsy person, unlike me. She has lots of funny stories to tell me about her experiences out and about as a guide dog owner.
Before we know it, an hour has passed in no time! Sometimes we chat a bit longer, others a bit shorter; but the time goes so quickly.
I think our weekly calls help both Maya and I socialise in a different way, and at a time to suit us both. It’s lovely having a friend on the phone that I can chat to; be it in my pjs at home, on the bus on my way home or in the staff room at work if I’m delayed leaving school.
I think Maya has also enjoyed building a rapport with someone outside of the family circle too.
Volunteering for Sightline has a great work life balance. It couldn’t be more convenient to do something that gives you the feel-good factor, in an easy way, at a time to suit you.
Names have been changed to protect identities.
We currently have a number of volunteering opportunities available. Please get in touch if you can spare as little as 1 hour a week.
Your call can really make a difference to someone living in the sight loss community.
Call 0800 587 2252 or email us at info@sightline.org.uk to find out more.
To find out more, please contact us:
(*0800 numbers are free to call from BT landlines and most mobile networks)