Duchess of Cornwall becomes patron of Silver Readers - a scheme to tackle loneliness

The Duchess of Cornwall has become the patron of Silver Stories, an intergenerational scheme where school children read stories over the telephone to older people in their community.

School children volunteer to read an extract from a story or a poem to Silver Listeners once a week for around five minutes. This benefits the child by boosting their reading confidence, fluency and expression and conversational skills whilst reducing loneliness in older people within their community.

To mark the occasion, The Duchess listened to two Silver Readers, brother and sister Ollie, 11, and Tegan, 10, from Cornwall, who each read part of their favourite books over the telephone.

Ollie read The Ice Monster by David Walliams, which the Duchess revealed she had "read quite a lot of times with my grandchildren".

Ollie told The Duchess that he used to read very quickly but has changed since becoming a Silver reader.

The Duchess told him: "I used to read very, very fast. When I made a speech, I used to talk very, very fast and then you have to take a deep breath and slow down and look at the commas and full stops."

Tegan then read an extract from Roald Dhal’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Speaking to Tegan, the Duchess said: “When you are sitting by yourself, you get a bit lonely, don’t you? But it must be so cheering for them to hear your voice reading these lovely stories.

“I am sure you help the older generation so much by reading to them. It must cheer up their days. So, thank you very much, you’re doing a great job. Be good and keep reading.”

'The benefits are enormous both to the older member of the community and to the children reading'

Silver Stories was established in 2016 by Elisabeth Carney Haworth, a retired headteacher and her husband David, a retired police sergeant, in response to concerns about the loneliness felt by older people within their community.

David Carney-Haworth said: “The benefits are enormous both to the older member of the community and to the children reading. We found that when children read aloud using the telephone, they build confidence and they get a much richer experience of reading and it builds their communication skills.

“For the older members of the community, it does help their psychological needs and stops them feeling isolated.”

During the pandemic, Silver Stories became a lifeline for older people in the community and the only contact they had from the outside world was that “young voice ringing them up and reading a story to them”.

'I am filled with admiration for your bridging of the intergenerational divide'

In June 2020, Prime Minister Boris Johnson awarded Mr and Mrs Carney-Haworth Points of Light, a programme that highlights the enormous array of innovative and inspirational volunteering across the length and breadth of Britain.

In a personal letter to the couple, Mr Johnson said he was "enthralled to hear about the brilliance of your Silver Stories initiative.

“At a time when the necessary shielding of many of our elderly has weighed deeply on our national consciousness, I am filled with admiration for your bridging of the intergenerational divide, tackling loneliness and isolation in a safe way.

“I am delighted to recognise you as the UK’s 1392nd and 1393rd Points of Light and I wish you every possible success as you continue to expand your programme.”

The creation of Silver Stories occurred one winter when Mr Carney Haworth, still working with the police force, found the older people in his community became isolated and lonely.

“I started thinking what can I do as a police sergeant to alleviate that feeling of isolation?

“I discussed this with Elizabeth and she [talked] about how reading aloud could be used to develop the skills of children to someone you don’t know as you are not being judged and that is how Silver Readers started.”

Dame Esther Rantzen, founder of the Silver Line, has also been involved with Silver Stories since it began.

Silver Stories currently has eight schools in Cornwall, Wales and other parts of England involved where children read to 43 listeners. They also have 42 readers who read from their homes to Silver Listeners.

To find out more about Silver Readers, click here