Paul was originally referred to the friendship calls by the council in April 2020 and was the first call recipient. Paul used to work down the Rawmarsh pit and enjoys fishing, watching TV, especially history programmes. He started isolating in the first lockdown and found this very difficult to deal with. He was paired with his first volunteer in May 2020 and had received calls from a number of different volunteers during the first months. In July, he was permanently paired with his current volunteer Tony, and they have really built up a close friendship and are still talking to each other weekly today. This is what Paul had to say;
‘I could not have got through this pandemic without the calls that I receive every week, it really gives me something to look forward to and break up the loneliness in the week, thanks to Tony and RotherFed for this – you have no idea what it means to me’.