How old do you have to be to use Link Age Southwark's services? Expand Our services are available to anyone over the age of 60 or people of any age living with a diagnosis of mild-moderate dementia.
How can I refer someone to your services? Expand If you would like to refer an older person or a person living with dementia to our services, please fill out our referral form attached below and email it to us at [email protected] Referral form If you would prefer a physical copy of the form, please email us at [email protected] or call 020 8299 2623 and we would be happy to send a copy in the post.
Are you able to provide services to people who don't live in Southwark? Expand Unfortunately we are only able to provide volunteer befrienders, transport and support with odd jobs to those living in the London Borough of Southwark. However, anyone, regardless of their address, is able to attend one of our social groups provided you can make you way independently.
Do you provide transport to your groups? Expand Yes, we will always do our best to provide transport provided you can get in and out of a car safely and independently (please see the following question if you are a wheelchair user.) Sometimes our ability to provide transport will depend on whether we have enough volunteer drivers available.
Are you able to provide transport for wheelchair users? Expand Yes in some circumstances. We use a minibus for a few of our gentle exercise groups which is able to transport people who need to remain in their wheelchair for the duration of the journey. However, these groups are currently quite full so attendance is not guaranteed. Please call the office on 020 8299 2623 to discuss attending one of these groups. If you are able to self-transfer from your wheelchair, we are able to provide transport either by minibus or out network of volunteer drivers.
Can I have more than one befriender? Expand We currently have a large demand for our services, with many more people being referred to us for a volunteer befriender. As a result it is unlikely that we would be able to provide more than one volunteer per person.
Do you provide volunteers to do weekly shopping? Expand While we do have some volunteer befrienders who can accompany an older person to a shop once a week, either by car or on foot, we are not able to help with your big weekly shop. However, we can provide the details of Age UK's "Food 2 You" service. Please call us on 020 8299 2623 to find out more about this service.
Can you help with my garden? Expand Our volunteers can do light gardening such as mowing the lawn and pruning if you have the tools available. For a very overgrown garden we would be able to recommend alternative services.
Can you help with jobs around the home? Expand Our volunteers can help with tasks such as changing lightbulbs, hanging curtains or putting up a shelf. For heavier jobs we would be able to recommend alternative services.
Do you organise parties? Expand Yes, we usually run a party in the spring and in December with food and entertainment. Sometimes other organisations offer meals or parties for us which we can arrange to take people to.
How can I find out what activities you're organising in the near future? Expand We produce a newsletter 5 times a year which we send to everyone who has been referred to us and used any of our services. Details of upcoming parties and other events are included in this newsletter and attendance is usually on a first come, first served basis.
I have a question that's not been answered here Expand If you still have a question about volunteering with Link Age Southwark, please get in touch with us via our contact form or call us on 020 8299 2623 to discuss further. We'd love to hear from you.