WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.740 (clock ticking) 00:00:04.360 --> 00:00:10.660 Margaret: If you've never been lonely, you don't realize what it is like. 00:00:13.740 --> 00:00:22.230 Roy: It feels as though you've been dumped in the deep end and there's nobody there to rescue you. 00:00:23.450 --> 00:00:28.196 Margaret: Well, you go hours and hours, never speak to anybody. 00:00:29.586 --> 00:00:34.639 Roy: I don't think you'll ever get used to it. It's always loneliness. 00:00:35.859 --> 00:00:41.203 Speaker 3: How do you measure loneliness? When even trying to talk about it takes your breath away? 00:00:42.553 --> 00:00:44.763 Margaret: The room's just empty. 00:00:54.874 --> 00:00:59.400 Speaker 3: 91 year old Margaret Nicholas has lived in this house virtually her whole life. 00:00:59.920 --> 00:01:03.146 First with her parents, then her husband and family. 00:01:03.796 --> 00:01:07.572 2 years ago, her husband died. Now, it's just her. 00:01:09.042 --> 00:01:11.719 Margaret: We used to do a big garden together. 00:01:12.199 --> 00:01:14.040 We went shopping together. 00:01:14.040 --> 00:01:16.280 Everything was done together. 00:01:18.570 --> 00:01:20.466 Speaker 3: You obviously miss him. 00:01:21.956 --> 00:01:23.186 Margaret: I do. 00:01:25.676 --> 00:01:29.929 Speaker 3: Margaret's granddaughter takes her shopping and neighbors pop in to check she's okay. 00:01:29.929 --> 00:01:32.600 But it's everyday company she misses. 00:01:33.310 --> 00:01:40.110 Margaret: Some people would think me a bit odd but I do chatter to my husband. 00:01:40.110 --> 00:01:44.853 I do it so I'm sort of speaking. 00:01:45.963 --> 00:01:48.216 Roy: That's the wife with her cousin. 00:01:48.216 --> 00:01:53.359 Speaker 3: Roy Croucher lives a short drive a way. He and Margaret have loneliness in common. 00:01:53.359 --> 00:01:58.000 He lost his only son to cancer and then his wife of 50 years. 00:01:58.600 --> 00:02:03.050 Roy: I'm always hoping that the wife will come through the door. 00:02:03.050 --> 00:02:05.100 But she never will. 00:02:07.420 --> 00:02:13.099 If you go out, you come back and you come back to an empty house. 00:02:13.099 --> 00:02:15.406 It's loneliness again. 00:02:15.576 --> 00:02:18.399 You're always waiting for somebody to call. 00:02:19.399 --> 00:02:23.543 Speaker 3: Roy says he's lucky. A friend and her family see him most weeks. 00:02:23.543 --> 00:02:31.329 But like Margaret, some days the only voice he'll hear is a call from the phone befriending service run by volunteers. 00:02:31.789 --> 00:02:34.413 Roy: Judy rings up on a Saturday night. 00:02:35.003 --> 00:02:40.063 Last Saturday, she was the first person I was spoke to all day. 00:02:41.604 --> 00:02:43.040 Speaker 3: That's a long day. 00:02:43.040 --> 00:02:44.260 Roy: It is a long day. 00:02:46.940 --> 00:02:50.946 Speaker 3: How much difference has that made, that phone call that comes on Saturday night 00:02:50.946 --> 00:02:53.172 when you haven't spoken to anyone else all day? 00:02:53.172 --> 00:02:59.449 Roy: I look forward to it. Always put that phone on the seat, ready to pick it up. 00:03:01.579 --> 00:03:05.390 That's a great help. 00:03:06.930 --> 00:03:11.293 Speaker 3: The Campaign to End Loneliness says it should now be treated as a public health issue. 00:03:11.673 --> 00:03:14.380 Identifying the most vulnerable is critical. 00:03:14.780 --> 00:03:20.063 Then offering support to cope with the bewildering and painful reality of ending up alone. 00:03:20.743 --> 00:03:23.803 Margaret: I've never been on my own ever before. 00:03:31.213 --> 00:03:33.993 Speaker 3: Getting used to that has been hard. 00:03:34.683 --> 00:03:39.539 Margaret: I don't think I'll ever get really used to it. 00:03:40.750 --> 00:03:43.103 Roy: It's just something that is thrown at you. 00:03:44.143 --> 00:03:49.589 You can't throw it back to anybody. 00:03:49.589 --> 00:03:52.020 You got to just carry on.