End of an era

After 19 years of amazing service, Rachel Harris has decided to call it a day with Age UK Shropshire Telford & Wrekin.

Rachel has been the lynchpin of our befriending and telephone buddy services for all that time; we often joke that she has forgotten more about volunteer befriending than most of us will ever know. However, she has decided that this is the right time to retire and spend more time doing the things that interest her outside of work and she will leave with all of our very best wishes.

Age UK Shropshire Telford & Wrekin has delivered some form of befriending service since its inception in 1950. The current configuration was originally born out of the Help at Home service as a means of offering additional support to people who were socially isolated or lonely.

Rachel joined the team in 2004 having previously been a qualified nurse, then working in library services in Telford & Wrekin and many years of being a volunteer with The Samaritans. 19 years later and her legacy will be a service that has helped, literally, thousands of older people, which has provided a social connection for people who would otherwise be lonely in later life and provided volunteering opportunities for hundreds of our brilliant befrienders and telephone buddies. It goes without saying that she will be hugely missed by all of us.

If you’d like to find out more about our befriending and telephone buddy services, call Age UK Shropshire Telford & Wrekin on 01743 233 123 or email us at enquiries@ageukstw.org.uk