Robert's Sightline Story

Robert’s
Sightline Story

I have been volunteering for Sightline for a relatively short period of time; my first call
taking place in the spring of this year. At 79 years of age, I have spare time on my hands when I’m not looking after my grandchildren, so chose to try telephone befriending.

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.

Obviously what Mike is up to on holiday is something we’re currently discussing; not least the better climate he is experiencing than that in the UK! We easily chat for an hour each week and it’s also been the case whilst Mike has been away.

We both benefit from the Sightline calls; we both have a dry sense of humour and we’re always laughing and cracking jokes about one thing or another.

I have glaucoma which developed later in life and am progressively losing my sight. Mike also has the same eye condition so we can both share our experiences of sight loss. I find Mike is a bit of a tech wizard too so helps me understand what software I could access that may also be of use to me.

I look forward to the call each week as I know we’ll find something to have a laugh about. I don’t know quite how we’ve hit it off so well but we’re two 79-year-old chaps chatting about life living with sight loss and I love it!

I’d recommend anyone to give Sightline a call to offer their time to their telephone befriending service. As a volunteer I can hand on heart say I’ve really enjoyed my time chatting to Mike so far and don’t see that changing. It’s been great for me.