Esther Rantzen a tragedy so many feel abandoned

Esther Rantzen has been deeply moved by some of the calls to The Silver Line, a new helpline aimed at lonely older people.

The service, which received 6,000 calls in its first three days, was set up by Childline founder Esther to help the tens of thousands of people who have nobody to turn to for companionship.

Speaking after a visit to The Silver Line Scotland, run by Age Scotland, Esther said the service was meeting a hidden demand.

“Some of the calls I heard of were people living quite remotely. One lady lives with her son on a farm 30 miles from the nearest town. She said he was out all day working and there was no one to talk to.

“She couldn’t get into town because she’d need to be picked up. Our adviser was able to find a dial-a-ride service she didn’t know about which was inexpensive and would take her into town shopping occasionally.

“That’s the kind of thing we want to do to provide friendship and to expand people’s horizons.”

Esther said that for many people on their own, a phone call could make life bearable.

“Nine out of 10 lonely people we surveyed in the older age bracket said the best remedy was a chat on the telephone.

“I can absolutely understand that. There have been times when, at three o’clock in the morning I have rung my sister in Australia. Just being able to talk things through is immensely helpful. Sadly a lot of our callers don’t have brothers or sisters still alive to talk to.”

For some callers, the service has been a life saver, Esther explained.

“I spoke to one gentleman who was obviously mentally very sprightly who had lost his wife. He said, ‘She was my life, not my wife’.

“Then he said: ‘As I sit here on my sofa I realise it’s only because I am a blinking coward that I don’t’ He didn’t finish the sentence but it was so profoundly moving that someone would think that his life was not worth living.”

“One gentlemen said, ‘When I put the phone down I feel like I belong to the human race’. We have to ask ourselves why he didn’t feel like he belonged to the human race before he had a Silver Line friend. It’s really a tragedy that so many of our older people feel abandoned.”

She said there’s also been a huge response from people wanting to help.

“The other side of this story is we’ve had 4,000 people offering to become Silver Line friends. These are volunteers who’ll talk to people on a regular basis.”

For many callers the service is providing a welcome chance to chat about their hobbies and interests.

“One of our callers, a lovely lady, was teaching her Silver Line friend how to do the cryptic crossword. Another was talking about childcare, reminiscing about when she brought up her own children.”

Esther says there are parallels with the start of Childline.

“What people keep saying is ‘why didn’t people come up with this a long time ago?’. They said the same thing about Childline. That has been copied in 150 countries, and I’m hoping Silver Line will be too.”

Silver Line can be contacted on 0800 4 70 80 90.