YOPEY Dementia Befriender

17/06/2026

“She’s my new best friend… and she’s young enough to be my granddaughter.” 💙

One of our care home residents (who prefers to stay anonymous) has found a special bond with her YOPEY Befriender - a young volunteer who visits regularly just to chat, laugh and listen.
These are the that YOPEY helps to spark:
🧓 An older person who feels less lonely and more valued
🧑‍🎓 A young person gaining confidence, empathy and life experience
Thank you to every YOPEY Befriender who chooses to spend time with an older neighbour. You’re making a bigger difference than you know. 💛
👉 Tag someone who’d make a brilliant YOPEY Befriender or share to celebrate friendships with older people.

10/06/2026

When we sat down to talk with 91-year-old John, we found out something amazing. Both his sons are millionaires!

John’s advice to 16–17-year-olds is crystal clear:

‘Technology. That is the business. Be ambitious. Be the best you can.’

Having YOPEY Befrienders visit care home residents like John makes a BIG difference to older people and their carers… but it also transforms the young volunteers who take part. 💙

In just a short time, we see students:

✅ Grow in confidence talking to people of different ages
✅ Learn patience, empathy and active listening
✅ Gain real‑life experience with people living with dementia

👉 Tag someone who’d make a brilliant YOPEY Befriender or share to celebrate friendships with older people.”

07/06/2026

EDNA FORGIVES YOUNG FOR CHEATING

Listen out for Edna's giggles as she tells how YOPEY Befrienders cheated in a making-words game.

Edna is a long-term resident at Oakview Lodge Care & Nursing Home in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire.

Oakview residents have been visited for a year by YOPEY Befrienders from Ridgeway Academy sixth form.

The home is part of the Country Court group of care homes, several of which partner YOPEY to enrich their residents' lives.

The young also enrich their lives in truly .

24/05/2026

Perhaps we should offer actress the opportunity to volunteer as a YOPEY Befriender? For her new series :CaringTogether. She says her highlight was volunteering in a care home with with . That’s exactly what hundreds of YOPEY Befrienders do!

The actress's experience caring for her father inspired her to return to education in a new BBC show.

21/05/2026

Feedback from a teacher whose students benefited from being YOPEY Befrienders “100 per cent”.

18/05/2026

YOPEYs at Lord-Lieutenant’s service for volunteers

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟YOPEY was represented at His Majesty’s Lord Lieutenant of Bedfordshire’s Thanksgiving Service this weekend by two YOPEY Befrienders from Redborne Upper School in Ampthill.

The annual service recognises the impact of volunteers and community organisations across Bedfordshire. The two girls are among 25 sixth-formers who visit , befriend elderly residents, chat with them and join in activities.

18/05/2026

HIGH TEA WITH THE BOYS FROM YOPEY

The charity YOPEY is trialling a new kind of volunteering that we are calling Independent YOPEY Befrienders, where this charity's support is more virtual, rather than face-to-face.

If this is successful, we will be able to roll it out across the British Isles. Any from our core territory of the to the rest of England plus Wales, Scotland and Northern Island – and little islands such as the and – will be able to take part.

Here we see Armann, Ovie, Hamza and Benedict – four sixth-formers from in , , serving tea and cake to residents of Coppice Lodge Care Home, part of HC-One.

They have been doing this weekly for a couple of months now. Inbetween serving the , they sit and chat to residents, listen to their memories and tell about their .

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Tuly .

Photographs by https://www.facebook.com/malcolm.Malcolm Sales

09/05/2026

💙 “IT MEANS THE WORLD TO ME”

We asked some of elderly residents what it means to have a young YOPEY Befriender visiting them regularly, and their answers say it all.

, could your 's residents in your benefit from these meaningful connections?

Get in touch to find out more.

Truly

05/05/2026

Teacher Harry Neale, Head of Vocation at Hethersett Academy, talks about the benefits to his students of taking part in a YOPEY Dementia Befriender Community Partnership at local , Hethersett Hall.

The other person in the discussion is YOPEY Founder Tony Gearing MBE who brought both school-age children and care home residents in their 80s, 90s and over 100 together in this beautiful partnership.

01/05/2026

AWARDS FOR FIRST HERTS YOPEYS SINCE PANDEMIC

Twelve YOPEY Befrienders from a Welwyn Garden City school have been given awards for befriending elderly residents at a care home in the Hertfordshire town.

The Lord-Lieutenant of Hertfordshire visited Oakview Lodge Care Home and saw the sixth-formers from Ridgeway Academy “in action” with residents and staff.

The teenagers have been visiting most weeks since before Christmas. Under the watchful eyes of carers, they play games with residents and chat with them. Several have made wonderful intergenerational friendships.

In an awards ceremony hosted by the care home, Lord-Lieutenant Robert Voss CBE presented each young person with a certificate "In recognition of outstanding service as a positive role model for young people in the community through his dedication and commitment to the YOPEY Dementia Befriender scheme”.

The Lord-Lieutenant, who represents the King, said the scheme was a “win-win for everyone involved – the young people, elderly and the care home’s staff”.

YOPEY's founder Tony Gearing MBE gave all 12 enamel YOPEY Befriender badges “which I would like them all to wear with pride. They are doing great work.”

It is hoped the young people will continue to visit until the autumn when they will recruit their replacement YOPEY Befrienders from the new sixth-formers at their school.

Sixteen-year-old Thomas Casserley spoke on behalf of all the current YOPEY Befrienders when he said he was initially unsure about how he would make friends with people so much older than himself – the average age of a care home resident is 86 – but he now really enjoyed organising games for them to do. “I feel my soul is a little bit larger.”

Eighty-six-year-old resident Mo said the YOPEY Befrienders “keep your memory going by asking questions about the past. They tell us what they have been doing for the last week, and we give them advice.”

Mo and her fellow resident Anne, also in her 80s, said they looked forward to the YOPEY Befrienders' visits as it was a highlight of life in the care home.

Oakview Lodge is owned by Country Court, a group of family-owed care homes. Its regional manager Sarah Mair thanked everyone for "taking part in this wonderful scheme that brought the generations together".

The partnership between YOPEY, Ridgeway and Oakview is the first YOPEY Befriender scheme in Hertfordshire since the pandemic and Mr Gearing hopes to add more in the coming months.

Oakview Lodge Care Home Country Court