“Loneliness can be a terrible thing" – support workers helping with the ironing and companionship
The coffee is still too hot to drink so Marguerite puts her mug down for a moment, looks up and smiles, and says: “It’s a really, really, lovely job, this. It’s important and worthwhile but it’s also lovely. The people I visit are delightful. Honestly, it’s such good fun.”
Marguerite has been a Home Support Worker for local charity Age UK Shropshire Telford & Wrekin for almost 10 years now, and today she’s visiting Iain who lives in a quiet Shrewsbury cul-de-sac untroubled by traffic, and where the neighbourhood cat roams undisturbed.
“We have a really good laugh, don’t we, Iain? Basically, I sit here and he entertains me with all his stories. If he has any ironing to do, he orders me about with the ironing board and tells me I’m not doing it right!”
“Ha!” says Iain. “Know your place, woman!” he jokes, referencing a TV comedy show from years ago.
“The truth is,” says Iain, conspiratorially, “She comes here and moves everything about and when she leaves after two hours, I go round to put everything back where it should be.”
They both laugh.
“When I first started coming here, Iain had had a nasty fall and had spent time in hospital,” says Marguerite. “But through his strength and determination, he’s come round. And his sense of humour never ceases to amaze me.”
Iain, 81, soft-spoken and thoughtful, sits in his favourite armchair, telephone and notebook at his side. In his light grey pullover, burgundy trousers and brown slippers, he is relaxed and happy, trading jokes with Marguerite.
