Q. What information should be shared?
A. As is stated in the advice booklets, it is important that, apart from name and telephone number, no other personal details are shared between Silver Readers and Silver Listeners. This is to safeguard both the Silver Listener and Silver Reader. However, there is a brief introductory chat at the beginning and end of the call which can include descriptions of the past week, jokes, recipes, and memories.
Q. I would like my mother/grandmother to be a Silver Listener
A. We are more than happy to receive contact from adult children or grand-children but would ask that they first gain the consent of their relative before putting them forward to us. This consent must be sent in writing by email to the charity, with contact numbers for the nominator and for the Silver Listener.
Q. How often should a Silver Reader read to the Silver Listener?
A. We recommend that contact should be once a week at a regular time
Q. How long should the Silver Reader read for?
A. The Silver Reader should usually read for approximately 10 minutes at any one time.
Q. Can I read a long story to the Silver Listener?
A. If the reader wants to share a longer story, ideally this would be spread across several calls, remember reading is usually for no more than 10 minutes. It may be that they share a chapter on each phone call.
Q. When the Silver Reader finishes their first story, does the contact stop or can they start a new story?
A. If, as we hope, the experience becomes one of the high-lights of the week, the contact between the Silver Reader and Silver Listener may last many months or years and the Listener and Reader will share many stories together. This can become a long-term commitment on both sides.
Q. On the Silver Stories website there is a resources page with certificates, what are these for?
A. We have created areading record so that schools can note down each time the Silver Reader reads a story or poem to their ‘Silver Listener’. After every ten reads the child can access a certificate.
Q. When can we download a certificate?
A. When a child or group of children in a school has read to a Silver Listener on 10 occasions a certificate can be downloaded. There is a different certificate for each accumulated 10 reads.
Q. How many certificates can I download?
A. Each time a child reads for 10 times there is another certificate to download.