As The Courier Kindness Campaign 2017 comes to an end, Caroline Lindsay talks to two people who have benefited from the scheme in different ways.
Four weeks ago today we launched The Courier Kindness Campaign and since then hundreds of warm-hearted readers have taken the chance to share a cup of kindness with lonely and isolated folk in their community.
Derek Keiller, who lives in Kingoodie, is just one reader who redeemed the coupons for a free box of Spar teabags and a copy of The Courier at the start of the campaign. And he knew exactly who to give them to: his 82-year-old neighbour Joyce Bruce.
Derek, 69, takes up the story. “Joyce stays on her own and my wife Marilyn and I, along with other neighbours, all look out for her,” he says. “She has difficulty walking so she wouldn’t be able to get out to the shops on her own to buy a paper.
“When I went round to see her with the teabags and the newspaper, I explained what the Courier Kindness campaign was and she thought it was a very good idea.”
Derek, who is the chair of the Scottish Men’s Shed Association and also Carse of Gowrie Men’s Shed, said that the simple act of kindness made him feel “as if I’d done a good turn.”
He explained: “It was the same great feeling I get when I show potential new members round the Men’s Shed, have a cuppa with them, and then, without any hesitation, they say: ‘Where do I sign?’”
With Christmas around the corner, Age Scotland are predicting that more than 60,000 older folk will spend Christmas Day alone. Derek urges people to keep an eye on neighbours who are on their own during the festive period and bear in mind the charity’s slogan: “No-one should have no-one.”
He says: “We always go to see Joyce at Christmas – she’s great fun. This year, we’ve made her a couple of planters at the Men’s Shed which we’ll fill with flowers.”
Derek welcomed The Courier’s initiative of highlighting loneliness and depression and, as our campaign comes to an end, he points out that you don’t have to wait for a special scheme to do someone a good turn.
“All it takes is a few minutes out of your day and costs nothing – and yet to the recipient it means a great deal. Look out for anyone who is vulnerable or lonely – organise a cleaner or a gardener for them if they can’t manage on their own, encourage them to get up and move every half hour – but above all, give them your time.”
By spending time with Joyce, Derek has learned a lot about her interesting life. As a young woman she was often attired in the latest Mary Quant fashions, and worked in the US for 20 years, first in hotel management, then travelling around doing various jobs inspired by movies she’d seen, and lastly securing a position at the Actors Federal Credit Union in New York.
“A young man called John Travolta came into the office one day,” she recalls. “He would only have been about 18 or 19 and was in a show on Broadway.
“He wanted money to buy a car so he could travel to Hollywood but our guy in charge of loans (we called him the loan arranger) told him he didn’t have enough in his account,” she continues.
“Anyway, he came back a few months later and said: ‘I don’t want a car after all. I want a plane!’”
Joyce returned to Scotland when her father became terminally ill and stayed to look after her mother. Despite a few romances in the US, she never married. “I always thought better of it in the end,” she laughs, “but I still live in hope!”
Growing up as an only child, Joyce is used to her own company – she reads a lot and enjoys puzzles and jigsaws.
“The only time I’m a bit down is on New Year’s Eve at the bells when I remember all the people I’ve lost,” she reflects.
But, like most people, she loves a good blether and enjoyed sharing a cup of tea and a chat with Derek.
“The Courier Kindness Campaign is a nice thing to do and could be very helpful to anyone who is on their own,” she concludes.
You can redeem a coupon for a free copy of today’s paper in today’s Courier, and take it round to someone who is on their own.
