InCommon’s activities have been looking a bit different recently. Back in early March we stopped our face to face sessions to protect our older volunteers from the emerging coronavirus. Like many organisations, we’re now working from home and focussed on keeping people connected remotely.

In the past few weeks we’ve been keeping in touch with our older volunteers by post and over the phone. We keep hearing that people are missing spending time with people of different ages in projects like ours and in their own families.

We believe that it’s more important than ever to keep people connected across the generations right now.

Many older people are avoiding leaving their houses at all, so might be feeling a bit isolated and welcome a chat, while many families are looking for fun, stimulating things to do from home. Young and old still have lots to learn from each other and can support each other through this time of change.

We all want to stay in touch, but it’s not always easy to spend meaningful time with each other when we’re physically apart. We’re all having to learn fast how we can socialise in new remote ways, and that should include people at both ends of the age spectrum too.

That’s why we’re launching InCommon Buddies, a weekly resource full of ideas for children and older friends and family to spend joyful time together remotely.

Each week we’ll be sharing the themed resources we’re developing and using on our own Buddies calls, arranged between InCommon’s regular older volunteers and the families of their younger visitors.

We would love lots of people to try these out in their own families, or with older neighbours they know in their street. Please let us know how you’ve been getting on, we’d love to see your photos and hear your ideas for future activities.