The evenings might be longer, but for InCommon it’s one of our favourite times of the year as we get stuck into a new term of intergenerational workshops. This year, we’ll be connecting 12 schools and youth groups with local retirement schemes in London and supporting intergenerational projects across the UK through our Empower programme.
So far, younger and older neighbours have written each other postcards, read the latest edition of The Intergenerational Press and met each other for the first time at intergenerational workshops.
Postcard exchange
We got to know each other early this year, with younger and older neighbour introducing themselves and their interests via special postcards. These helped spark lots of exciting conversations when they met for the first time at workshops.
Sharing The Intergenerational Press at consultations
We shared the latest edition of The Intergenerational Press with new participants at our school consultations in September. At one consultation in Lambeth, we were joined by one of our older neighbours, Ken, who’s been volunteering at workshops since 2022. He told the children more about the retirement home he lives in and what they can expect at our intergenerational workshops. He also ran an activity to gather their ideas on what they might like to do with their older neighbours.
The magazine includes a taster of the activities younger and older neighbours get up to, along with advice, recipes and a poetry competition.
First workshops of the term
In October we held our first workshops of the term. Older and younger neighbours met for the first time and set some ground rules for the workshops (such as listening to each other and having fun!). Inspired by Diwali traditions, they also made rangoli patterns out of coloured sand. The patterns are usually passed down from one generation to the other and are meant to bring luck and welcome visitors.
We’ve got lots planned for this year’s workshops, which we can’t wait to update you on. If you’d like to hear more about what we do, you can sign up to our mailing list here - we’d love to stay in touch.
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