Despite having six brothers and sisters, 81-year-old Cilla doesn’t enjoy the benefits of having a large family. In fact, in the last 30 years, she has had just one visit from a relative. 

Cilla, who never married, lives on the fifth floor of a twelve-storey block of flats and doesn’t feel comfortable going out. She has a niece living in Canada who recently paid her a visit but that has been her only contact with a relative in three decades. 

Cilla, signed up for a Re-engage call companion during the Covid pandemic. She lives alone in a high-rise block of flats in Bristol. All of her immediate family are now dead. 

“I don’t go out and so really rely on my regular phone calls,” she said. “My call companion, Izzy, is absolutely wonderful and speaks to me regularly. Even when she went back home to Australia for a while, she made sure she didn’t miss a call. She’s an absolute lifeline.” 

Cilla, a retired home carer, loves talking to younger people: “They keep my grey matter going and keep me young. Our ages are obviously different, but our minds are similar. 

“I love talking to them because I’m kept up to date with all the new things going on and they say they learn things from me. So, it’s for our mutual benefit.” 

Cilla is part of our Re-engage advisory group, a group of people over 75 who help the charity develop its plans to continue helping people aged 75 and over who are experiencing loneliness and living in social isolation. 

“I really don’t know what I would do without Re-engage.

I really miss my family but I’m so fortunate to have a call companion who makes me feel alive.”