It’s been an unexpected start to the year for us all. Here’s what we’ve been up to during our third lockdown - from intergenerational calls to digital inclusion and a lockdown magazine!
For many of us, 2021 didn’t start quite the way we’d hoped or expected. But with the vaccination programme well underway and the prospect of lockdown restrictions easing, it feels like there might just be a return to normality on the horizon. For us, that could mean running some outdoor activities in the summer term, connecting our older volunteers and children in person once more.
As we look towards resuming our face-to-face work, we take a moment to celebrate some of the unexpected joys we’ve derived from connecting with our participants at a distance during this third lockdown.
1. Intergenerational Calls
We’ve continued to run intergenerational calls, connecting children and older people over the phone or on video. This term, we’ve been hearing about the inventions that have changed our participants’ lives, from washing machines in the early 1900s to electric scooters in the early 2000s! We’ve also become intimately acquainted with our participants’ pets, who have a tendency to wander in and out of our Zoom calls at will. Wag, a Guide Dog belonging to one of our participating residents, is a firm favourite among the children!
2. A magazine for residents, authored by children
This week, we release The Children’s Press, a magazine created by children from our partnered schools for older people at the sheltered accommodation schemes that we work with. Intended to bring smiles to residents’ faces during this final stretch of lockdown, the magazine features word searches, puzzles and jokes, as well as poems and paintings by our talented young artists. Some children have drawn pictures of their favourite toys and teddy bears, which feature in the magazine’s centre spread, ‘Toy Corner’! You can download your copy here.
3. In the Frame
At the start of this year, we asked younger people to keep older people “in the frame” with a fun crafting and gifting project. As the third lockdown was imposed, we wanted to take a rubbish situation and turn it into something positive… So we asked our young people to take actual rubbish and turn it into something lovely to send to an older person in the post! We provided art packs to youth groups up and down the country with everything they needed to make upcycled frames, inside which they put messages of hope, drawings, photos and calendars for their older friends.
4. Microgrants
We’ve been offering microgrants to organisations with exciting ideas for intergenerational social action projects during the Covid crisis. We can’t wait to see these grants making a real impact in communities over the next few months. Like the Nature Club at Long Mead Community Primary School, who are planning to brighten up the garden at a nearby care home when they’re next able to visit their older friends.
5. Digital inclusion
With funding from Social Entrepreneur Support Fund and support from Tech TakeBack, we’ve recently provided some of our residents with tablets and data, enabling them to get online for the first time and take part in video calls with children.
When the pandemic began, we couldn’t have anticipated just how long we would be working remotely with our participants. Nor could we have anticipated the learning we would do and the fun we would have in devising new, Covid-safe projects for our participants. It’s been a real pleasure to expand our remote offerings - and we can’t wait to see you all in person again soon.