This autumn has been one of InCommon’s busiest seasons yet. Our Connect programme, which works with primary schools and retirement homes across London, delivered over 20 workshops at 10 different locations. With themes ranging from local superheroes to what makes us who we are and even Cost of Living, our younger and older participants have been able to learn and grow with each other and find moments of intergenerational connection along the way.
Our Connect programme started off the term with some ‘Superhero Stories’ workshops where the children interviewed older participants about their past experiences, lives and interests and then used their answers to design a comic book strip - turning them into a superhero. The children were able to find out some exciting facts about their older friends, for example, one of the participants at Doliffe Close used to be a champion swimmer in Guyana and to this day, no one has broken his record!
We then moved onto our second workshop series, ‘Identity & Home’ which got everybody thinking about the meanings of their names and where the older residents grew up. We also shared some meaningful objects that make us who we are which inspired some really special and thought-provoking conversations. At George Padmore House, the students of Queensbridge Primary school even brought along the physical objects themselves. We had a lovely afternoon swapping stories and finding out unique facts such as one older participant’s special object - a fish vase from the US - is important to her because if it breaks someone is going to have to fly over to the US to get another one for her!
As a special one-off activity, InCommon hosted a trip to our mini-CAP at Evergreen Adventure Playground in Hackney with some of the residents at George Padmore House. Although they’ve been connected for the past year, the young people at the playground and older neighbours had never actually met and had only interacted through exchanging letters and crafts. We brought two older participants , sisters Marcia and Isadora, to the playground for the first time where they were able to spend a rare sunny afternoon surrounded by nearly 15 children - who as you might imagine had a never ending stream of questions for them! We look forward to welcoming the children at the scheme to meet more of the residents in the New Year.
Beyond our regular programme activity, we’ve been working with partners to spread the word about working in the intergenerational space and centering inclusivity - one of our core values - at the heart of this. Two of our superstar facilitators, Michaela and Rosy, ran a session on anti-prejudice approaches to intergenerational work with Flourishing Lives which explored better ways to work with older people and how we can actively challenge our own assumptions and unconscious biases. We also recently became a Dementia Friends organisation and have been running intergenerational activities at a local care home, alongside making our activities more accessible for students with special educational needs. You can read more about our approach to inclusivity in intergenerational work here.
To round the Autumn-term off, we’ve been delivering festive-themed workshops with lots of music quizzes, snowman bunting and carol singing. A real highlight from the workshops has been hearing the younger and older generations share their festive traditions with each other and bond over shared experiences. We’ve even had an impromptu performance from George, an older participant at Doreen Capstan House, who brought out his saxophone for a rendition of ‘Silent Night’.
We also had some karaoke-style carol signing with our social action programme at Gawthorne Court for a very special occasion - older participant Alice’s 100th birthday! To celebrate her milestone, we put her in the hot-seat and passed the microphone to the young people who had fun asking her questions about what the past 100 years have been like for her. She shared insights about living through the war and how much easier life has become today. Here she is with all her cards from the Royal Family, although, as one of the young people put it, “we should crown her Queen Alice for living so long!”
We’re looking back over 2022 with lots of fond memories of the intergenerational connections that have been made through our programmes, and are looking forward to seeing even more friendships grow between old and young in the coming year. Wishing everyone a wonderful time over the holidays and a Happy New Year!