A mix of young and old

BY LOUISA JONES

Ninety-year-old retired serviceman Burt Horscroft likes to travel, loves horses, and loves his Thursday afternoon chats with a St Johns teenager.

Every week, 18-year-old Nick Baker visits Mr Horscroft at St Andrew’s Village. They spend an hour chatting about their shared love of geography and horse-racing.

The pair were brought together during Nick’s final year of high school through a befriending programme run between St Andrew’s Village and Glendowie College.

Obvious benefits to the residents aside, the programme helps the year 13 students complete their community service requirements expected by the school.

The befriending programme is one of the programmes being celebrated by Volunteer Awareness Week, which began on Sunday.

Nick is one of many young volunteers in Auckland who sees volunteering as a natural part of their life.

He doesn’t think it is weird that he is still visiting Mr Horscroft even though he has left school.

"It actually struck me as odd that the other students from my year didn’t continue," says Nick.

He says Mr Horscroft is his "third grandfather" and looks forward to their weekly catch-ups.

There was a unique union from when they first met, says Mr Horscroft.

"I liked Nick right from the beginning, he is a little gentleman, a smart boy and has a great sense of humour," he says.

Nick is in his first year of a bachelor of communications at AUT, which Mr Horscroft says has been very interesting to learn about.

"I like to think I’ve taught Nick a thing or two, but he has also taught me," he says.

Volunteers co-ordinator Janice Grigor says the school befriending programme is a win-win situation.

"Our residents have lived through so much that they have a richness of experience to share, while the young volunteers are like a breath of fresh air and bring a certain brightness to the village."

Mr Horscroft says he is "100 percent behind the programme".

So much so that he has a second Glendowie student about to start visiting him.

– Louisa Jones is an AUT journalism student

- © Fairfax NZ News