So some Children may lack a 

• parent
• older brother or sister
• uncles or aunts
• grandparents
• older friend

to take an interest in them.

Through our volunteer Older Friends we aim to meet this need.

We need Volunteers to be Older Friends and to take out a Younger Friend for 2‑3 hours once a week. The Volunteers must be over 18 years, supply references, and allow us to make various checks on their suitability.

In most cases we would expect the Friendship to be long term, and some of our Friendships have lasted many years. However, situations do change and some only last several months.

The Volunteer will be briefed by the Social Worker involved, and will meet the child and family, before they agree to become the Older Friend.

Activities are very wide ranging, depending on the interests of the two Friends. Swimming, parks and play areas, library, Bowling, Badminton, arts and crafts, gardening, cooking, computers, Cinema, Brownies, in fact anything the child will enjoy and will develop character and self esteem.

The Volunteer is a Friend to the Child and does not take the place of professional workers who may be involved. Our Older Friends find these friendships to be both enjoyable and rewarding.

We always have more children needing Friends than we have volunteers - so we need your help!  

To learn more about our origins click here.

To learn more about the role of an older friend click here.

To read about our Equal Opportunities and Data Protection Policies click here.

Read about our philosophy!