AnnuAl Review 2010 - Manor Gardens

Friendship Phone NetworkAnnual Review 2010The Friendship Phone Network providessupport, companionship and informationfor isolated older people in north Islingtonthrough telephone befriending.There are 70 of us in the Friendship PhoneNetwork – volunteers, members and onepart-time member of staff, so it is a small butlively community, chatting happily about aweird and wonderful collection of topics. Allof our members have hobbies, interests orbees in their bonnets and we try to match themwith volunteers who share these, or who areinterested and willing to learn. Amongst ourgroup is a watch mender, a railways enthusiast,an expert in family history, and a handful ofembroiderers, cooks, and football fans; peoplewith a passion for Eastenders or Newsnight;people who love listening to Vera Lynn or LedZeppelin. Our members have 16 differentcountries of origin and this is matched by thediversity of our volunteers who, between themspeak 18 languages.Being a volunteer in the Network isn’t justabout helping other people – though that isimportant. For our volunteers it can also beabout connecting with an older and wisergeneration, using their mother tongue, learningabout Caribbean cooking, getting some tips onbeing a working mother, or talking over sharedexperiences and interests.Our core service – telephone befriending,has strengthened again this year with a slightincrease in numbers from the previous year.This year has also seen some interestingdevelopments, led by our members who have letus know what things would make life easier ormore fulfilling for them.After protracted negotiations we were given10 reconditioned computers in August andwe passed these on to members who werenot already familiar with the joys of moderntechnology. Knowing only too well how difficultit can be to get to grips with computers if youhave had no previous experience we realisedit was vital to provide some one-to-one tuitionand support, so six IT volunteers were recruited.They have helped get the computers up andrunning, solved the inevitable start-up problems,and helped people access the internet. Thenthrough weekly visits they have taught basiccomputer skills and helped our members get themost from their computers. As a result we nowhave seven new ‘silver surfers’ in regular emailAll of our members havehobbies, interests or bees intheir bonnets and we try tomatch them with volunteerswho share these, or who areinterested and willing to learncontact, doing some shopping on-line, keepingin touch with relatives in far-flung places andresearching hobbies and interestson the internet.The other exciting new project this yearhas been running our first telephone group.Seven of our members joined togetherin four phone calls with an occupationaltherapist and physiotherapist to talk aboutliving with arthritis. Using an organisationcalled Community Network who providetelephone conferencing facilities we trainedsome facilitators and set up a series of calls.Although it may sound strange and a bitdaunting to be having a phone call with eightother people instead of the usual one it workedsurprisingly well with none of the membersdropping out and all giving verypositive feedback.With many thanks to Dunhill Medical Trust, theMorris Charitable Trust, the Worshipful Companyof Grocers, and the Inman Charity we havesurvived for another year and look forward todoing so for many more years to come.07