Do you know someone who loves reading but is unable to get to their local library for health, mobility or caring reasons?

Somerset HLS is a free service where volunteers can assist you by choosing and delivering books to you at home. Includes: Large print novels, ordinary print books, audio books, shorter novels which are lighter and easier to hold, Non-fiction books e-books, e-audio books and e-magazines.

Spark IT is focused on reducing digital poverty, improving the health and well-being of digitally excluded individuals living in Somerset.

For support using your device or if you just have a digital query, then please contact our IT helpdesk using the information below.

If you need more bespoke support, we can pair you with one of our digital champion volunteers who will able to help you further.  

Our free Active Befriending ’Walk and Talk’ service aims to support older people who would like to benefit from fresh air and being more active but don’t feel very confident about going out by themselves.

This is a new Befriending service which sits alongside our Befriending and our Friendly Phone Calls services to offer a more active alternative for those who want it.  The service is free, has been devised and supported by Age UK Somerset, Somerset Activity & Sports Partnership (SASP) and Somerset County Council.

What does the Active Befriending service offer?
After clients have registered they will be matched with a suitable volunteer (depending of course on availability in that area).  Then over an initial 8 week period, clients will be called for by the volunteer each week, who will then take them out for a short walk starting from (and returning to) the client’s home.

Somerset Sight is a charity which has been established for over 100 years supporting people with visual impairment through a number of different services. In 2019 the charity was proudly awarded the Queens Award for Voluntary Service.

As a charity we are dependent upon our volunteers for the provision of our many services, one of which is our prestigious befriending service.

Volunteers provide much needed regular company and conversation, help with reading and correspondence and often take people out for a walk, and a cup of tea. This can develop into a firm friendship that often lasts for a number of years.

New volunteers are fully trained and police checked after meeting the local co-ordinator. The volunteer will then be matched to a local sight impaired person for regular visits. All reasonable expenses will be paid.

If you would like to join our friendly team, please contact us for an informal chat.

The Community Services Team support a range of services including wellbeing activities, older persons befriending, a job club and support for individuals and families. For Martock Parish residents only.

If you live in Queen Camel or neighbouring villages you may be able to access a volunteer befriender who can visit you regularly. Contact Health Coach Marie for more details.

If you live in South Petherton and would benefit from a regular visit from a volunteer befriender, contact a Health Coach at the Medical Centre for an initial chat.

‘Call in Time’ is a free public telephone befriending service run by Age UK. It matches volunteers with older members of the public. Not having someone to talk to regularly can be lonely and isolating, particularly if you’re used to sharing your home and time with others. A friendly, weekly, 30-minute chat on the phone can make all the difference.

The calls are friendship calls and are not for counselling or bereavement support.

While we’re waiting to find a suitable match for an older member of the public, we carry out regular, short Good Day Calls with them, to make sure they don’t feel ignored. There is a criteria for example people need to be over 60, live alone or be a full time carer and be able to hear clearly over the phone.

‘Call in Time’ is also looking for volunteers.

A confidential, free, national helpline for older people. They can offer information, friendship and support. They signpost callers to the many, varied groups and services that exist in their communities.
The Silver Line Telephone Friends offers a regular weekly friendship call with a volunteer.

Enjoy a regular chat with a telephone befriender who shares your interests, experience or type of macular condition. Telephone befriending is free, everything can be set up over the phone.

We offer a telephone befriending service in Wincanton and Bruton and we currently have a prescription collection service throughout Wincanton. We are hoping to provide a dementia service in Chard and Wincanton in July and details for this will be available soon.
Our office will be closed until Covid restrictions allow.  We will then be opening the office for 4 days a week, Tuesday-Friday. 

If you are facing a life-limiting illness and have concerns or would like someone to talk to, call us. Offering a Friendly Phone Call service during Coronavirus – call 01823 333822 to find out more.

Monthly Sunday afternoon tea parties are a lifeline of friendship for lonely people over 75. Each older person is collected from their home by a volunteer driver and taken to a volunteer host’s home for the afternoon. Bringing people of all ages together, develop fulfilling friendships and support networks.