Age Concern Wiltshire is celebrating after the owners of Marlborough supermarket Waitrose came to its aid.

The John Lewis Partnership, through its charitable arm The Golden Jubilee Trust, has agreed to fund the secondment of one of its employees, Carol McDermott, to work on the development of a telephone befriending service to elderly and isolated clients.

The firm is donating Mrs McDermott’s time, 770 hours, as a contribution in kind to Age Concern Wiltshire’s 60th anniversary appeal.

Through the telephone befriending service housebound older people will be given regular calls from trained volunteers.

Mrs McDermott has already been working on a pilot project to assess the value of such a service and now plans to start training volunteers.

She said: “I am excited about being able to take this project forward.”

Age Concern Wiltshire’s director Liddy Davidson said: “We already have a very successful home befriending service. However, demand for that service exceeds our ability to respond to everyone immediately.

“The telephone service will enable us to keep in contact with those on our waiting lists.”

Anyone interested in training as a befriender should contact Carol McDermott on (01380) 727767.