Two thousand years of breaking bread together

The word "companion" is older than it looks. It comes from Latin - com, meaning with, and panis, meaning bread. A companion is someone you break bread with.

That's a lovely thing to build a word on. Not someone who does things for you. Someone who sits down with you.

For centuries, queens and noblewomen kept ladies-in-waiting. Some of the role was ceremony. Much of it was simply company - someone to talk to, walk with, read with and confide in.

The best of them were chosen with great care. Temperament mattered as much as family name. A companion who grated was worse than none at all.

The paid companion

By the 18th and 19th centuries, a more modest version had become part of British life: the paid companion. A lady-in-waiting.

Typically she was a well-read woman of limited means, living with an older or widowed lady. She read aloud, kept up the correspondence, came along on visits and to church, and made the evenings shorter. It was one of the few respectable jobs open to an educated woman, and a good match could last for years.

Nobody pretended it was nursing. It wasn't. It was company, given with warmth and paid for honestly.

Later, volunteer befriending schemes grew up to do the same thing more deliberately. They still do valuable work today, but we all know modern life's challenges and pace make it harder and harder to find the time to volunteer, much as we would like to.

Why it faded - and why it's back

Life has spread out. Families live further apart. Streets are quieter in the day. Parents both have to work, and it's hard to make ends meet. Life admin piles up. Which means our loved older people now go days without a proper conversation, and many of their children worry about it from a long way off.

What we borrowed from history

When we built Amble, we looked back as much as forward. The old idea of the companion got a great deal right, and we've kept those parts on purpose.

• The match comes first. Companions are matched on shared interests, not just on who happens to be free. Someone who loves cricket, or gardening, or the war poets, deserves company who does too.

• Chosen, not listed. You see a curated shortlist, never a directory. I personally interview and select every companion, and I'd rather say no than send the wrong person.

• It starts with a conversation. Every family begins with a personal consultation, so we understand the person before we introduce anyone.

• You're kept in the picture. A warm summary after every visit, and after-care throughout.

• It's company, not care. Our companions bring conversation, company and time. That's the whole point - and it's what the best companions have always given.

The word hasn't changed in two thousand years. Someone to break bread with, and a good conversation over it.

If that sounds like something your mum, dad or grandparent would enjoy, I'd love to talk. Email hello@amblecompanions.com or call 0333 305 0644.