Football is always a talking point during our calls. We always have a bit of banter about how Claire’s team are performing in The Championship; it’s never that well so we never end up spending more than a couple of minutes on that at the start of our calls!
I can’t ever imagine not volunteering my time to do these calls now; they’re so enjoyable and I really would miss chatting to my befriendees. I’ve struck up real friendships with both and look forward to picking up the phone each week…
We’re approaching our first year anniversary and we hit it off straight away as we could share similar experiences living with glaucoma. I like to talk about anything and everything, so we never run out of things to chat about. I still have my central vision so enjoy watching soaps like Emmerdale. My befriender doesn’t watch soaps, but she still always asks what’s been happening and if I enjoyed the episode last week!
I would really miss the calls with Ben if they didn’t happen. They make all my Monday mornings different and get rid of those Monday morning blues! Whether it’s reminiscing about childhood experiences or what we’ve done week by week I really enjoy all our calls…
All my befriendees are very different and I like that. They may differ wildly in age range and interests but there’s one common factor that draws all our conversations together and that is their loneliness living with sight loss. Many of my befriendees don’t feel they have anything outside of their immediate life at home and/or have a lack of family support…
With family living some distance away I don’t have anyone visiting other than a neighbour and her husband who I became friendly with during the pandemic. This has proved vital and a real lifeline to me given my recent hip surgery. The Sightline Telephone Befriending Service has provided another opportunity for friendship…
Jack is a natural befriender – he’s such a good listener. We’re always laughing about one thing or another too. I enjoy listening to podcasts so we’re always sharing recommendations what to try.
I’d whole heartedly recommend the Sightline service to others who are sight impaired. I’ve found it a complete tonic for my soul and look forward to the call every week…
It’s really rewarding to know that I am having an impact on someone’s life in a positive way. Yes, everyone’s sight loss journey is different but we’re on common ground and I know these calls benefit everyone involved just through having these conversations…
I have the pleasure of being matched with a very chatty befriendee – he’s currently on holiday with his wife and we agreed to still have our calls whilst he’s away. Our conversations cover all sorts of subjects from music and politics to sport and gardening…
Liam is a great help to me, not least as he is great with technology. He’s been able to recommend products that might be helpful to me in my workplace and also some tech around the house. I would never know about some of these things had I not reached out to Sightline so I’m very glad I did…
