Friends for You: The invaluable Chorley charity transforming lives in lockdown

“I had a real inner urge to reach out and try to help. That’s how I decided to start Friends for You.”

Founded in 2016, Friends for You is a befriending charity which operates across Chorley, Leyland, Charnock Richard, Clayton Bridge, Eccleston, and Coppull.

On top of her own experiences, former health professional and course leader in health at UCLan Marjorie understands the impact loneliness can have, with Age UK estimating that there are 1.4m chronically lonely older people in England.

“It was really grassroots stuff but I went to the council and they offered me a meeting room and offered two members of staff who would support us,” says Marjorie. “I got Lancashire Adult Learning involved in training volunteers and by May 2016 we were distributing posters, we held our first training course in June, and in August we began visiting.

“We bring hope,” she adds. “You can’t imagine what that does for people’s self-esteem. “We’re the rock around which people fix the rest of their week: they know the time and day we come and that changes the energy of the week.

“And once the visit is over, they’re left with the conversations, the excitement, the laughter, and the knowledge that the same thing will happen next week.

“Loneliness is an imprisonment in itself and if someone if giving up their time to visit you, that changes your sense of self-worth,” Marjorie continues, with Friends for You often taking people out for afternoon tea or, if they physically can’t leave the house, taking afternoon tea to them.

“Suddenly, they are in a position where their house isn’t a prison. We’ve been visiting some people for almost four years, and the friendships which are formed are very real. It’s incredible.

“The volunteers have hearts of gold and I’m bowled over by the difference we make. It’s been as fulfilling as I expected it to be and more so.”

With an estimated 11% of older people sometimes going up to a month without seeing another person, lockdown has exacerbated the already-pressing issue of loneliness in the UK.

“These last two weeks, we’ve seen a real deterioration in people’s ability to cope with the loneliness,” explains Marjorie. “We’ve had two people on the point of suicide and if it hadn’t been for our volunteers, then I don’t know where they would have gone for help.

“That’s how meaningful this service is.”

With the help of the group’s administrator Susan Forshaw, whom Marjorie says has gotten through ‘Trojan’ amounts of work during lockdown, the charity - which decided to stop home visits a week before lockdown - has pivoted to offering phone calls as well as food and medicine deliveries.

“We’re just trying to meet the needs of people, so to anybody thinking of getting in touch: please do,” Marjorie says. “Don’t be lonely and don’t anybody else be lonely. Send them to me and we can do something.”

With about 85 volunteers currently reaching out to more than 125 people every week, lockdown has seen not only a surge of people looking for help coping with loneliness but a heartwarming increase in volunteers, too.

And, as a result of her sterling work, Marjorie even won an Iceland Local Hero Award and a £50 voucher.

“You could’ve knocked me down with a feather,” said Marjorie of her reaction to receiving the award. “I have the very best job in the world.”

The group is always on the lookout for new befrienders; if you’re interested or if you want to refer a lonely person, please contact the charity on 07506 189 128 or via email at [email protected]