A friendly voice has never been so important: Meet the ladies running a buddy-buddy system for female veterans
Hearing a friendly voice at the end of the phone can make the world of difference during uncertain times like these.
That’s why female army veterans are rallying together to support each other during the coronavirus crisis.
Barbara “Babs” Anderson has been building a ‘buddy-buddy’ system for fellow members of the Birmingham branch of the The Women’s Royal Army Corps (WRAC) Association.
More than 100 women, including many living in Staffordshire, the Black Country and Worcestershire, belong to the group and the more active members would usually be getting together for monthly meetings or social activities such as bowling or day trips.
But with all that currently on hold due to Coronavirus, branch secretary Babs, aged 68, was wondering how to ensure members still felt connected while staying at home.
She decided on a telephone buddy scheme which sees active and sociable members of the branch paired up with one or two more shy members for ‘regular phone calls and chats.’
“The branch is very sociable and for me it was hard not being in touch with my pals. We all said keep in touch and talk to each other but it suddenly dawned on me that some of our more elderly members can’t make it to meetings so what’s happening to them?
“I thought the best thing to do is to use our branch’s best skill – being sociable. I floated the idea on Facebook to see who would be interested and was happily surprised by the response,” explains Babs, who is also the charity’s area coordinator for Wales and West England.
As a lot of the members are in their 80s and 90s, she knew it was important to go back to basics. “I know not everybody in the branch is tech savvy, they aren’t going to be on Facebook all the time or using Skype. Their phone is their only salvation so that was the only way to go,” she says.
At the moment there are around 20 pairings and among the members who have signed up to help is branch president Betty Webb MBE, a 96-year-old Bletchley Park codebreaker, who was also Babs’ recruiter when she joined the army in 1968.
Betty was just 18, living in Aston-on-Clun in south Shropshire and studying domestic science at Radbrook College, Shrewsbury, when the Second World War broke out.
She was sent to the Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park, where she worked with Major Ralph Tester to register undeciphered Enigma messages
Later Betty moved on to the Japanese section in Block F to paraphrase deciphered Japanese messages so they were harder to trace by any listeners-in and that way, they were safer to send out to Commanders in the field.
She believes the value of the WRAC is in maintaining camaraderie, making new friends, and most importantly sharing something that all these women have in common
“Betty is quite the superstar and she asked if she could get involved,” says Babs, who lives in Kings Heath and was a pay clerk until leaving the army in 1973.
She believes it’s “absolutely crucial” that people are still ‘socialising’ during this difficult time – albeit at a safe physical distance from one another.
“It keeps that camaradie that we have in our branch going and keeps morale up. I’m so glad our girls can talk to each other, encourage each other and keep their spirits up especially as the majority of our ladies are on their own.
“We’re being told that people really appreciate the calls. It’s important to show people we do care and they appreciate that. One of the our volunteer callers said they really hoped we would continue with this after the crisis is over. That’s really encouraging,” she tells Weekend.
Members who know their way around social media and mobile phones are looking at other ways to stay connected such as using the popular House Party app.
The WRAC Association was due to unveil its first permanent statue memorial to the Women’s Royal Army Corps at the National Memorial Arboretum last month but the event was unfortunately postponed to allow for members to follow social distancing guidelines from the government.
“It was a shame. It was going to be a massive event with 300 to 400 women turning up, it would have been fantastic. We’re going to do later in the year when all this is over, probably October time,” says Babs.
In addition to Babs’ project, the WRAC Association, which also has a Shropshire branch, has launched an organisation-wide buddy-buddy scheme which will also allow for its veterans to be buddied up with a currently serving woman through a partnership with the Army Servicewomen’s Network (ASN).
The association has a membership of over 3,000 women who served in the British and Commonwealth armies from the early 20th century right up to today.
Retired Colonel Alison Brown, the Vice President of WRAC, said the idea of a buddy-buddy system came from the knowledge that shared experiences of serving in the forces, regardless of the details, transcends all hurdles of age and geography.
“Our main focus initially was our elderly people. We have all our ladies who served in the Second World War and they are over 95. They don’t use social media or the internet, they rely on phone calls as their main contact.
“The benefits for our elderly members are huge. A lot of them are by themselves and due to their age can’t go out because they’re extremely vulnerable or have underlying health conditions. They are stuck in their house and some of them can’t get into their garden because of mobility issues.
“Having a friendly voice at the end of the telephone makes quite a difference to them because they can’t go out. They can talk to somebody who has been through a shared experience.
“Our Second World War ladies particularly like talk to other women who served in the Second World War,” explained Alison, who worked HR and logistics posts in the UK, Germany, the Gulf War in Iraq and the Balkans, including Kosovo.
Support is also being given to other generations through social media particularly Facebook where a variety of groups exist and interact, including ‘virtual’ nights-out. In some cases, the help given may be more practical such as assisting with online shopping orders or collecting groceries and and prescriptions.
“In all times of national emergencies, women who have served in the British Army have bonded together to support each other in whatever ways are required,” says Alison.
