Hi. I've been looking for a place to share this story, because I often think about it and when I do, it makes me happy.

Around 15 years ago, I was working at a care home in a small town. It was a nice residential home and everyone was treated well. We had an elderly gentleman, John, who had been a WW2 soldier. He was lovely but a little lonely. His wife had passed and he had no children. We did our best for him but he started to get depressed and fed up with life. He used to go for walks around a nearby park every day with his walking stick.

One summer, he came back to the home upset. He said a group of teenagers in hoods were in the park all of the time and he found it intimidating. He said they were loud and he was frightened. He stopped going to the park for a few days but missed the walk too much.

On the day he went back, he said, '"if I'm not back in an hour, come looking for me." He wasn't back in an hour. I gave it 10 more minutes, left someone else in charge and ran to find him. I thought he'd had an accident or ran into trouble of some kind.

When I got to the park, John was sitting on a bench with a group of 4 teenagers gathered around him seemingly hanging off every word John was saying. I went over, checked on John and he was fine. He was thrilled with his audience and talking about WW2.

He came back to the home 2 hours later, overjoyed that he'd made new friends. John had actually gone over to them and told them they were intimidating and that it wasnt fair. The kids had taken their hoods down and apologised. Then they'd all got talking.

Anyhow, nearly every day, John met them at the park and eventually, he started wearing a cap (backwards too) when autumn came and winter, those kids came to the home once a week with fizzy drinks and chocolate bars, and watched a war movie or the band of brothers series with John.

They called him Pops.

For Christmas, they gave him a hoodie which John actually loved and wore a lot. John went from being lonely and sad, to being happy, and even when he got very unwell and had to go into a hospice, those kids carried on visiting him until John passed away.

I think John had a big effect on them but they had a big effect on John too and changed him. It was a genuine friendship that was really moving to witness. It always warms my heart and it's my favourite memory from my time working there.