Jen Pemberton, BelSoc member and Chair of Age UK, Camden describes her lockdown whim that became a six year friendship:
In April 2020, early lockdown, I answered a post from Age UK Camden asking for someone to befriend an older neighbour. It was a whim and I thought it might last a few months. It lasted six years. Denis and I talked every week for the rest of his life, first by phone and later in his flat.
Denis loved music, classical guitar above all. He’d been taught in the 1960s by George Clinton, a Camden guitar legend. Once lockdown lifted, and for as long as he could manage it, Denis walked to the Belsize Park shops every day, skilfully navigating with his white cane, and loved the passing conversations with neighbours along the way. Maybe you were one of them?
He told me our chats mattered to him. By then, many of the conversations he had were with someone who was there to get a job done. I had no job to do; I was just there to talk and to listen.
Those six years changed me too. Becoming a befriender gave me a window into how many of our neighbours are growing older without the money, the health or the family nearby to help make it easier. So much is online now, nothing seems joined up and it’s hard to know who to ask. I started fundraising for Age UK Camden, then joined the board and this year became Chair. Surprising where a whim can lead!
We all know who to call about a leaking tap, thanks to The Belsize Society’s ‘Traders You Can Trust’. But who do you call when a parent gets a dementia diagnosis, the benefit forms make no sense or a neighbour hasn’t spoken to anyone all week? I’d say the knowledgeable, caring people at Age UK Camden; which is what 4,000 older people did last year.
Friendship runs through everything we do, from our two day centres to a book club at the British Library and art sessions at the National Portrait Gallery. We also make sure older people get heard. Ask the older people we meet what would improve life round here and they’ll tell you: more benches to rest tired feet, for a start. So we tell the people who decide these things, loudly.
We’ve just celebrated our 60th birthday and we want services like befriending, which introduced me to Denis, to be here for the next 60. Many people assume that national Age UK funds us and are surprised to learn it doesn’t. We’re a local independent charity and we raise our own money, so support from our neighbours and businesses in Camden really matters.
Thanks to all of you who help already and hello to the friends we haven’t made yet.
Need help, or know someone who does? Call 020 7239 0400 or visit www.ageuk.org.uk/camden
Please consider donating to: www.ageuk.org.uk/ camden/get-involved/donate
Could you or your business become one of our major supporters? Email Ross Diamond, our CEO, at ross.diamond@ageukcamden.org.uk
