I bet I would like Arnold. Not because of the genuine interest he takes in everything and everyone around him, or in deference to his age, but because of the way Helen warmly recounts her regular chats with him. "He's a first-rate storyteller," Helen recalled, "with ninety two years' worth of fascinating stories. Our hour just flies by!"

Like her partner, John, Helen is a Befriender with the Tandridge Befriending Scheme. John described for me his visits to Michael, a designer, who maintains his creative skills despite the stroke which affected his speech.

"He's an intelligent chap who just needs to slow down a bit when we meet so I can follow what he says," John explained recently; "He maintains his workshop, you know, using it regularly." Before I asked John and Helen about Befriending I hadn't realised the variety of things they do to make life feel good for others. Delivering birthday goodies to one friend isolated during the heavy snow; listening to another who likes to recount and enjoy the same stories each week; and accompanying another to a games afternoon at the local church.

Helen told me how much she enjoys Befriending. "You feel you are helping, cheering people up, and it gives me quite a lift too!"

For more information about Befriending and other volunteering opportunities please ring me, Marion Piggott, at the Volunteer Centre, 01883 344444, email:caterhamvc@owen29 .wanadoo.co.uk, or visit our website: www.surreycommunity. info/tvsc/. Alternatively, meet me every first Friday of the month in Warlingham Library, 10.30 - 11.30 a.m.