"I’d lived on my own since my wife, Edith died 30 odd years ago so I’m used to looking after myself, but after my stroke the hospital social worker arranged for someone to come and help me with a few things at home.

I wasn’t real keen on the idea at first, but I have to admit I’m really glad Michael comes now. Rather than me taking all day to get the washing done & the house in order, Michael helps me out here and there and gets it done in no time. I do what I feel I can, and he does anything that I find too hard.

Once the jobs are done we get stuck into a game of chess. I used to love it but had gotten rusty because I hadn’t played it for years. I wouldn’t have thought about taking it up again but the lady at Independent Life asked me if there were any hobbies I’d like to take up and chess came to mind straight away. Lucky for me Michael’s not a world champion so we’re pretty evenly matched!

We’re also going to start walking in a few weeks. I probably wouldn’t bother to do it on my own so it’s great having Michael’s company. It’s funny, when the social worker first suggested getting someone in to help I wasn’t real happy about it but it’s worked out really well. Aside from having the help with the housework I look forward to our games of chess each week & the walking will do me the world of good. Who knows what I’ll do next… I always meant to try my hand at painting but never got around to it so maybe the time has come!"