An inter-generational event was held at Stanley Holloway Court Sheltered Accommodation in Canning Town & Custom House between the residents and young people from local youth groups. This was the first of a series of events planned by Sam Clark from the Canning Town and Custom House Regeneration Project to share conversation together with a meal and to watch the 1948 film about the area called “Neighbourhood 15”.
Our Community Conversations worker and two volunteers hosted the event and ran activities to get the generations talking together. “We made sure that the tables were of mixed ages and this did take a bit of persuasion! We then set them the task of talking together for 10 minutes to find as many things in common as they could: favourite foods, football teams, TV programmes and much more. They had marker pens and paper tablecloths and drew all the lines of connection that they could find. This was a great start to the evening”
After the film it was clear to everyone about the many differences between life when the residents were young and nowadays. The young people all felt it was better nowadays but the residents did not! One thing they all agreed on was that young people do not have so much freedom now to go out and about safely.
At the end everyone had a turn to say what they enjoyed about the evening and here are some comments that were repeated many times: “a sense of togetherness” “the chance to communicate” “the evening was educational” “mixing with elderly people” “It is nice to have young people here”.
One of the last people to speak was a young boy who said “elderly people having respect for young people” and there were a few laughs as usually when the need for respect is mentioned it is the other way round. However the elderly lady next to him said in a loud voice “that is right – it works both ways”.
We are delighted that Sam is going to set up more of these events and are looking forward to running more of these Community Conversations.
