Winnie Harland is every bit as active as any other pensioner.

She loves nothing more than an outing to the ten-pin bowling alley and she was auditioned for the game show Countdown, only narrowly missing out on a chance to appear on the show.

Winnie, 75, who lives in Shipley, is just one of the people with sight and hearing loss who are benefiting from a new Guide Support Scheme.

The idea of the scheme, based at Bradford's Visual Impairment Service in Morley Street, is to match volunteers with clients in need of support.

"We've recruited 13 volunteers who are at the minute undergoing their training," said Alec Porter, service manager. "It's geared to people with both sight and hearing loss. Their problems are much more difficult than with people with just one impairment."

Activities with which volunteers can help vary widely, from helping with essential everyday tasks to leisure pursuits like Winnie's ten-pin bowling. She is a regular at Go Bowling in Shipley with her guide support worker, Margaret Hird.

"It's mainly up to the individual client. It can be just something as simple as shopping but it's always doing something with the clients. It's working alongside them as an enabler rather than in a doing role.

"It would have been very difficult for Winnie to have gone on an audition for Countdown like she did without her guide support worker. That was an enabling role."

Initially the scheme used paid social workers but Mr Porter said they were now able to train volunteers thanks to a more permanent funding commitment from Bradford Council.

He said having volunteers and paid staff enabled the scheme to match up the appropriate guide support workers with its clients.

"The scheme has been going for just over two years but we are changing it now. It was a pilot project when we started it," he said.

"There were some people who we realised needed a volunteer in lots of ways - but they had a paid worker.

"There are people whose needs are much more complicated and it would not be fair for a volunteer to do that role."

The current crop of volunteers are coming to the end of their training programme of six sessions but Mr Porter is likely to be recruiting more.

On average, volunteer guide support workers are expected to commit themselves to the scheme for about three hours a week. Anyone interested in learning more about the scheme should ring (01274) 729280.

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