Making the Most of Community Links

At our General Meeting in November, looking at Community Links, Winash shared a project they were pursuing in Clevedon, North Somerset alongside Wyldwood Arts (met at an earlier C&SW General Meeting).

They discovered last January that they had been awarded nearly £10,000 from the Big Lottery Fund for an intergenerational Arts project called “Communi-tree”

By November they have set up weekly intergenerational sessions with many local groups:

• Rydal Nursery

• YMCA

• Ravenswood Special School

• St Nicholas Chantry School

• Brownies

• 1st Clevedon Beavers

• 2nd Clevedon Beavers

• Rock 11 Clevedon

At the end of November they had a Bring & Share Supper and Presentation evening with live music and friendship inviting everyone who had participated along with their families.

The impacts and benefits definitely go two ways. One initiative involved 6 children from St nicholas Chantry finding penpals amongst the residents and writing to them. Henry who doesn’t have an older grandparent appears to have adopted his pen pal as a substitute and he and his Dad visit twice a month.

The manager at Winash, Heather House, comments that a real highlight has been watching the interactions and listening to the conversations “It has been an amazing journey, with the coming together the highlight, the conversations triggered, the smiles on faces, the chats that followed about the session, the improved well being by introducing children regularly into Winash, and having fun times together”