Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Teens form unlikely friendship with OAP
TWO Monifieth youngsters have struck up an unlikely friendship with a local octogenarian after a unique school project.
Su-Rui Liang and Ewan Stewart, both 18, got involved in Monifieth Befrienders at the start of their final year at Monifieth High and were paired with 87-year-old Richard Henderson.
Despite the near 70-year age gap, the trio have become firm friends and although Su-Rui and Ewan have now both left school they have vowed to keep in touch with Richard.
Su-Rui, who is due to start studying physical education at Napier University in September, said: “I was not expecting to get along so well with him – Ewan and I are both very sociable so we knew we would be able to have a laugh with him but we have been able to talk to him about football and other stuff we have in common.
“Sadly, Richard’s wife had dementia and had to move into a care home, then over Christmas she passed away.
“We kept visiting Richard and kept him company through that. He has also been in and out of hospital so we went to visit him there rather than at his house.
“I don’t even think of us as befrienders any more, I just see Richard as a pal.”
Ewan – who is about to start maths and financial economics at Dundee University – said: “At first I thought it would just be something to put on my CV but it is just like speaking to a pal rather than going to visit an older person.
“He often tells us about an older movie he likes – we get the clips from it up on our phones to watch with him and he is amazed by that.
“We haven’t been able to meet up at his house during the coronavirus lockdown, so we got him set up on Skype.
“He found it difficult at first but now he can do it all by himself.
“He can now call his family on Skype as well – they live quite far away and haven’t been able to see him either.”
Richard, who used to work in the labs at Dundee Royal Infirmary and Ninewells Hospital, said: “We chat about football and anything else that is happening and they are really interested in coming along, they don’t just sit there idly.
“They even came by the other day to sit outside in the garden with social distancing.
“They like to talk about what Dundee was like in my youth because we had no phones or tablets. Our life was entirely different from what youths have now.
“Their friendship makes a big difference to me because I am on my own, it has been a real lifeline for me.”