A SIMPLE telephone call once a week can mean the world to an older person in need of a chat – and doesn’t cost the earth either.

Great-great-grandmother Margaret Davis married twice but now lives alone in retirement flats in Banbury and can barely see due to cataracts.

The 92-year-old joined the Women’s Royal Naval Service in the Second World War and met her first husband, George, who would later work as a farm labourer.

After his death several decades ago, she married Herbert Davis, who she called Bert.

She said: “He was a lift engineer. We got on well and found a bungalow in Bodicote, although I’ve moved to a retirement flat now.

“Herbert died of dementia at the turn of the century, in his late seventies. I know dementia doesn’t kill, but he got to the stage that he didn’t want to get up.

“It got too much for me to look after him. My youngest daughter called me one day and I burst into tears, I was so tired.

“I put the phone down and she phoned the doctor and told them it was crisis time. They put him into a care home and that’s where he spent the rest of his life.”

Three years ago, Mrs Davis also faced the gut-wrenching loss of a daughter to emphysema and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Her son-in-law still visits several times a week and her middle daughter Betty helps her with the laundry.

Mrs Davis is also almost blind due to macular dystrophy and cataracts. Despite her condition she continues to knit blanket squares for the Horton Hospital’s baby unit. She said: “I knit to pass the time. Betty is very busy and has four grandchildren to look after.

“I can sit here all day. It would be nice to get out and be more social but macular makes it difficult all round. We have a coffee morning on Wednesdays here but I’m afraid I’m not up in time for that. I know it sounds lazy but I’m in and out of bed four to five times in the night.

“Sometimes I do miss having somebody to talk to. I’ve found myself talking to objects. I’ve got a kitchen timer and when that goes off I say ‘thank you, darling’.”

The only regular contact Mrs Davis has outside of her own family is a call once a week from Loni, a volunteer Phone Friend at Age UK Oxfordshire.

She said: “Loni is lovely. It would be nice to have a chat for longer than five or 10 minutes.

“If she’s not there to call, someone else will.”

HOW YOU CAN HELP
* Donate to the Lonely this Christmas appeal, which is aiming to raise £5,400 by Christmas to support Age UK Oxfordshire and its Phone Friends service. Text AUKO52 £3 to 70070 to give £3 or visit campaign.justgiving.com/charity/ageukoxfordshire/endloneliness to pledge an amount of your choice.

* Volunteer with Age UK Oxfordshire. Ten new recruits are being sought over the Christmas period to work from the charity’s headquarters in Banbury. There is no set minimum age and Phone Friends can volunteer from just two hours per week. To find out more, email volunteering@ageukoxfordshire.org.uk. 

* If you’re organising a Christmas lunch for neighbours and older people who may not have anyone to share the day with, register it at communitychristmas.org.uk.