Celebrating Befriending Week… with David & Lindsey

1-7 November is Befriending Week. This year’s theme is all about celebrating everything #BefriendingIs.

So we’re taking the opportunity to celebrate the hundreds of fantastic friendships between our VIPs (our over 60s) and volunteers. Friendships like David and Lindsey’s.

Before connecting with Vintage Vibes, David rarely left the comforts of his home. Then we introduced him to Lindsey and life beyond his four walls opened up.

At Vintage Vibes, we’re all about tackling loneliness and isolation by creating REAL friendships. We treat every one of our VIPs (that’s what we call our wonderful over 60s) as individuals. We make it our mission to understand them, their personality and their interests.

So when we met David and got to know him, Lindsey positively sprung to mind as the perfect Vintage Vibes match for him; their shared love of food and cooking, and their bubbly characters. And what a brilliant friendship they have built over the years.

Lindsey reignited David’s passion for cooking. David, who was once dependent on Meals on Wheels, now goes shopping every week to buy ingredients. He even whips up his now famous roast chicken for Lindsey’s visit each week!

David loves cooking for Lindsey and his face lights up whenever he talks about it:

“I look forward to Lindsey’s visits every week. When I make my homemade soup for us, it’s always funny as Lindsey tries to guess the ingredients. She doesn’t always get it right!!

“Having Lindsey in my life has made such a difference to me and has given me the confidence to try new things.”

They even managed to meet Michelin Star Chef Tom Kitchin together in 2019 at a celebratory Vintage Vibes event in collaboration with Saturday Kitchen and Comic Relief.

Not only has he rediscovered his love for cooking, David is now often seen out and about in his local community; getting out of the house, visiting his local community café, joining local groups, and even attending local events.

He has regained his confidence and has made great new relationships, not only with Lindsey but amongst his local community too.

Lindsey told us:

“Seeing David getting out and about and meeting new people is fantastic. He attends various clubs and activities now and has made a lot of new friends. I am there for him to talk anything over with or to assist him with anything he finds difficult.

“I started off a volunteer with David, but now consider myself a friend.”

David and Lindsey’s fantastic friendship has truly transformed David’s life. That’s what #BefriendingIs.

Befriending Week is an annual awareness week created by Befriending Networks. You can check out more on their website here.