iPals across the years

Sanctuary Care residents in Weston-super-Mare have teamed up with local youngsters to learn new tricks this week.

Residents from Beach Lawns Residential and Nursing Home in Beach Road, met their ‘iPals’ from Bournville Primary School last week (Friday 4 December) as part of an intergenerational project run by Bristol-based charity Alive!

Alive!’s engaging project, known as iPals, aims to bridge the generation gap by bringing together younger and older people via the use of modern technology.

Starting in October, the year-long project initially brought the children and residents together via the creation of beautiful picture collages. As a ‘get to know each other’ exercise, the young pupils and residents put together colourful designs to send to one another – the youngsters focused on their hobbies and interests, meanwhile the residents created pictures showing the children what their previous occupations were and where their families grew up – all of which were produced on iPads.

87-year-old resident, Margaret Haskins, said: “Using the iPads is very exciting and I found putting the pictures of my life history together a lovely way to go down memory lane.”

Margaret continued: “I’ve thoroughly enjoyed looking at the collages from the children – the designs they have put together for us are so inspiring, you can learn so much through the eyes of young children.”

Putting a face to the vibrant art pieces, each resident were teamed up with a pupil to become iPals and together they will further support, encourage and learn from one another by using creative apps.

Margaret’s husband Keith – who visits his wife regular and has also taken part in the iPals project – added: “We are never too old or too young to learn something new.”

Isobel Jones, project coordinator from Alive!, added: “iPals is a way of allowing those living in residential settings to learn new things, find out about each other and meet young people. The residents have taken to using the iPads so quickly – they have found it incredibly rewarding.”

Moving forward, residents will learn how to search for their favourite song or film, use Skype to connect with loved ones and much more, while continuing to meet up with the children from Bournville Primary School in Selworthy Road.

The Sanctuary Care home’s activities leader Beverley Nicholson said: “Alive! and the work they carry out is fantastic, not only are they teaching us new skills but they are bringing young people in the home and enabling the two generations to engage positively with one another which is very inspiring to see.”

Deputy head teacher at the school, Chris Chaffey concluded: “The children are enjoying the iPals project very much. It is a good opportunity for them to get to know and appreciate someone in their community from an older generation. It also helps to boost their self-esteem by doing something for someone else. We hope that the links they have started to make will develop into a greater cross-generational understanding.”

Alive! is a charity dedicated to engaging with older people in care home settings and day centres through meaningful activity; providing person-centred activity sessions and advocating for older people with policy and decision makers.

click here for more details or to contact Beach Lawns Residential and Nursing Home