TWO kind-hearted city residents with a combined age of 182 have been hailed as “an inspiration” for their volunteering.

Audrey Warner, 90, and Stan Stovell, 92, both give up their spare time to help others.

The two pals volunteer with Communicare – a Southampton befriending charity which aims to alleviate loneliness in the city’s elderly residents.

Audrey, a former civil servant, joined local good neighbours’ charity Communicare when she was 88 years old after her neighbour and good friend and long serving Communiteer of 25 years, Stan Stovell, a retired prison officer, introduced her to the charity.

After spending most of her years living in Spain, Audrey returned to England and eventually found herself living next door to Stan 6 years’ ago, who is Communicare’s oldest volunteer aged nearly 92.

Audrey’s love of people spurred her on to be a befriender and she helps provide hospitality at the charity’s fundraisers and their recently launched community tea parties.

She said: “Joining Communicare has helped me a lot and it’s the first time I’ve felt settled since moving back from Spain where they adore their old and young people.“It really is very nice, hospitality is what I love doing, people love coming to the community tea parties for a cup of tea, a chat, and you see that even strangers soon get to love each other.”

Stan, despite facing personal health challenges, continues to befriend via telephone. The pair both live in Shirley.

Director Annie Clelow said: “Stan and Audrey are an inspiration to us all!

“Despite their advancing age -although it is hard to believe when you look at them- they are always there ready to offer what help and support they can to those around them, with a big welcoming smile on their faces. “It just goes to show that it is never too late to get involved and all the research suggests that it helps keep people active and happy.

“It just goes to show that anyone can help others, no matter their age or circumstance, even when they have just a few minutes to spare. It can enrich theirs and others’ lives in so many different ways.”

Communicare, which is based in the heart of Southampton, is a friendly, neighbourhood charity that enriches the lives of lonely and isolated people in and around the city.

Its committed and kind-hearted Communiteers act as good neighbours, offering practical and emotional support in a variety of ways.

Communiteers are offered simple and basic training on topics such as safeguarding, manual handling and developing listening skills.

They can choose their level of involvement and the types of activities they wish to engage in too, which take up as little as 30 minutes to an hour of their week.

Communiteers who are free between 9am and 4pm during the week can get involved in all sorts of tasks such as one-to-one befriending, transport to activities such as the regular lunch clubs and tea parties that the charity hosts.

Their new Homecoming Project offers short term Communiteer opportunities for individuals and groups such as the WI and Neighbourhood Watch to support people leaving hospital who would benefit from low-level, good neighbourly support in the early stages of returning home.

For further details call 023 8021 6022, visit www.communicareinsouthampton.org.uk or follow the charity on Twitter at @Communicare_SO or visit www.facebook.com/CommunicareInSouthampton.