Care home resident calls school visit programme 'best thing he has ever done'

A resident at Willow care home in Chesterfield, who took part in a programme where the residents partnered up with children from Netherthorpe School, has called it the “best thing he has ever done”.

Amore Care’s Willow care home ran a six week programme where pupils from Netherthorpe School visited once a week and were paired up with a resident. The project ended with the residents visiting the school and a book being produced on the residents and pupils’ shared experiences.

Bob Porter, 86, who has recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer, said: “This programme has been the best thing I have ever done. As a young boy I spent my life moving from different care homes until I was evacuated during the war.

“The pupils from the school loved hearing my war stories and I looked forward to their visits every week. They told me all about modern day technology and it is really interesting to see how things have changed since I was that age.”

Rachel Batham, head teacher at Netherthorpe School revealed that the pupils were a little reluctant at first as they were nervous and worried about what to talk about with the residents but after the first ten minutes they began to enjoy it and looked forward to their weekly visits.

“They exchanged conversations and banter with the residents. They enjoyed getting first-hand accounts of events that they had only read about in history books.

“The students made an attachment to the different characters so much and are now planning to visit their new friends during the school holidays. Students said they didn’t want the sessions to end, they had a brilliant time and thought it was a fantastic project. They said they hope to keep this connection going,” she said.