A SCHEME which aims to help older people to make new friends has begun a trial in Wadebridge.

It is the brainchild of the team behind the Betjeman Centre – a facility dedicated to assisting older people in the town and surrounding areas that is based in Wadebridge’s former railway station.

Titled ‘Betjeman Buddies’, it aims to help people to make new friends by helping to match people who sign up with likeminded others to socialise with, with examples being people to go to the theatre with, go out for dinner, coastal walks or the cinema, although the matches are based on mutual interests.

Participants fill in a questionnaire detailing their interests from which the staff at the Betjeman Centre then use to match people with each other, with participants introduced to each other in a private get-together event.

The first trial event was held in October and there is hopes that there will be future events, with the trial proving useful in learning how to make improvements and getting feedback from the participants. Each event is intended to have no more than 10 participants, ensuring that the event is comfortable for all those who take part.

For Em Burt, the manager of the Betjeman Centre, the origins of the idea were inspired by someone attending a session at the centre. She said: “It started when I was giving someone a hug and a customer said ‘I wish I could have one of those’ so I hugged her too and talking to her she said she was lonely as all her friends had partners and she didn’t but didn’t know how to make friends at her age.”

The scheme is developed with assistance from Age UK Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, who are helping to facilitate the events.