Heart-warming appeal from Edinburgh graduate sees 94-year-old receive hundreds of cards and gifts for birthday

A graduate who befriended a 94-year-old man while at university has made a heartwarming appeal to surprise the pensioner with cards for his 95th birthday this weekend.

Aoife Malone, 24, met Tommy while working in a betting shop five years ago in Galashiels while she studied fashion communication at Heriot-Watt University and despite the 70 year age gap, the two are best friends.

She noticed Tommy, who was a widower who lost his wife the year before, coming to the bookmakers placing 2p bets to have the chance ‘to chat to people’.

And one night while on shift Tommy mentioned he would be going to the bingo, and Aoife asked if she could come with him.

Aoife and Tommy met five years ago when she worked in a bookmakers (Pic: Instagram/@aoifemalone)

Over the next five years, Tommy taught her to drive, they went to the theatre together, he became ‘a shoulder to cry on’ and he even attended Aoife’s graduation.

While the two still speak daily, coronavirus restrictions have made the year incredibly lonely for Tommy, who has three sons however they live in different parts of the country.

In the appeal on Instagram, Aoife who is originally from Belfast wrote: “He’s had an incredibly lonely year as you can imagine and has barely been able to see any family at all.

“On the 21st of November he’ll be turning the big 95 and I’d love it if he got a few more birthday cards than usual this year. He keeps all the cards me/my mum/friends send him and goes back and reads them again so I know he would be so buzzing if he got some kind words from people from all over the world.

Aoife's appeal to surprise her friend has gone viral and Tommy has received hundreds of cards (Pic: Instagram/@aoifemalone)

“If you’d be happy to send him a card please DM me and I’ll send you the details! If this works out he will be SHOOK.”

On Wednesday, Aoife updated her followers to say that Tommy has been inundated with nearly 300 cards and gifts from strangers from across the world.

The two also appeared on This Morning to share their story on Wednesday.

Aoife said: “I just thought 100 would be crazy but now I've had hundreds and hundreds of messages from people all over the world. People are just dying to send him a card.”

Tommy added: “It feels unbelievable. I've got 170 cards and letters so far, it's amazing.”

Brian Sloan, chief executive of Age Scotland, said: “The strong friendship between Aoife and Tommy is a lovely example of the generations coming together to form a bond that has enriched both their lives. It shows that the younger and older generations have a lot to learn from each other and can get a tremendous amount out of spending time together.

“Hundreds of thousands of older people in Scotland, like Tommy, will have found this year particularly difficult. But lockdown, shielding and continued restrictions across the country mean that many older people have been unable to stay connected to their family and friends as they usually would. This has resulted in sky high levels of isolation and loneliness among older people who feel increasingly cut adrift from society.

“Our free friendship line is also available for older people who are looking for comfort, support, reassurance or just want a friendly chat. Give us a call on 0800 12 44 222.”

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