Chris is a year 13 student at Wellington College reflects on the experience of being part of our volunteer visitor programme.

Like everyone else, I have been through times where I have been lonely, sad or depressed. In such times I have been so fortunate as to have a close family who have pulled me through. The elderly are often less fortunate, however, being among the most susceptible to such problems, and due to their age, often having few close family or friends. I have been visiting one such gentleman for just over two months now, and I am glad that I decided to do so. He is very much ‘with it’ and we often discuss sport or politics or have a game of scrabble. He has a wealth of knowledge from years of experience and is an individual with a number of interesting tales to tell. I hope that we have begun to develop what is a mutual friendship, from which he can draw strength and self-esteem. I enjoy visiting him, and that the mere fact of somebody wanting to see him should hopefully help him to realise his true value and worth. I would recommend to my friends that visiting the elderly is a very worthwhile thing to do. The act of visiting is in itself an enjoyable one, but most importantly, the value to the elderly of having the young take an active interest in them can never be underestimated.