'Our bond through a befriending service has been a blessing'

3 hours ago

Hayley CoyleYorkshire

News image — Sheila Ramsden, 80, and Sarah Green, 42, have a special bond after meeting through the charity

b:friend Two people are seated closely together indoors against a red brick wall. The person on the left has short light-colored hair and wears a dark patterned jacket and a decorative headband, while the person on the right has long dark hair, wears glasses, and is dressed in a light-colored top. The person on the right has one arm around the other’s shoulder. In the background, there is black metal furniture and a branch with pink artificial flowers. — Sheila Ramsden, 80, and Sarah Green, 42, have a special bond after meeting through the charity

Two women nearly 40 years apart in age have developed a "very special friendship" after being paired up by a loneliness charity.

Volunteer Sarah Green, 42, was matched with Sheila Ramsden, 80, via a befriending service and said the time they spend together does not feel like a job and that in the 18 months she has known Ramsden she has become like an "adopted nan".

The pair met through Sheffield charity b:friend, which was set up nearly 10 years ago in a Doncaster man's garage after he experienced loneliness while working in London.

Speaking to the BBC as part of National Loneliness Week, Sheila said: "It's been a real blessing."

Green started volunteering at the charity because she "wanted to make a difference to people's lives".

She said initially, on paper, it may not have seemed like they shared similar interests due to their big age difference.

"But by getting to know each other's lives and stories we've realised how relatable we are to each other...and we have built interests together."

Ramsden, from Goldthorpe, Barnsley, she does have family, including great-grandchildren, and they help when they can but they live quite far away.

So she signed up to b:friend and before long was paired with Green, who lives in her area and they met to "see how it went".

"She's [Green] a wonderful person - she's clever, she's very smart and she's genuine and I wouldn't like to not have her in my life, not now", Ramsden said.

b:friend currently has 745 "active" friendships and 18 social clubs across South Yorkshire, North Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire and plans to open three more in the near future.

b:friend A group of older adults are gathered indoors in two rows, holding up purple pom‑poms. Several are seated at the front behind wooden tables, while others stand behind them. The group faces the camera in a bright room with neutral walls, and the purple pom‑poms create a coordinated, celebratory visual. — The charity also has clubs across three counties that offer weekly activities such as Zumba

But it also has up to 400 older neighbours still seeking a match in Sheffield alone and interest is so high, the charity said, it had 945 referrals in 2025.

According to Loneliness Awareness Week, 45% of adults feel "occasionally, sometimes, or often" lonely in England.

You are also 64% more likely to develop Alzheimer's or clinical dementia and 27% more likely to take your own life if you suffer from loneliness.

The b:friend volunteers spend an hour a week visiting a neighbour aged 65 or older who is socially immobile or housebound for "a cuppa and a chat" and its social clubs offer activities every week for two hours.

Colette Bunker, CEO of b:friend, said: "Loneliness can have a detrimental effect on our health.

"It can increase the risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, anxiety, depression and dementia. It's the equivalent of smoking 15 cigarettes a day."

b:friend Three older adults sit at a table in a bright room. One person on the left wears novelty blue shutter-style glasses and holds a small blue toy guitar. The person in the centre holds a pink-handled microphone, while the person on the right, wearing glasses and a jacket, has an arm around the centre person. On the table are a mug, a pencil, and playing cards, suggesting a social or activity setting. — The charity said it has 745 "active" friendships

"Befriending is not just a nice-to-have connection, but something that can transform and even save lives - it is a two-way street and we hear from our befrienders that the friendships are a real lift for them too," she added.

Green told the BBC that what started out as just a desire to contribute to the community has turned into more.

"I didn't expect to get something back out of it other than the feeling of doing good, but actually she's enriched my life as much as I've enriched hers", she said.

"We get on so well and we can talk for hours and it just got that she became more and more my friend", Ramsden added.

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