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In 2015, LinkAge secured funding from the Police and Crime Commissioner to deliver a new intergenerational restorative justice project, in partnership with Safer Bristol and Bristol City Council Housing.
The Connecting Generations project was primarily aimed at older people affected by anti-social behaviour and younger people at risk of receiving, or who have received Acceptable Behaviour contracts.
Over the year, the Connecting Generations project worked with 5 schools, 5 community facilities and 2 sheltered housing schemes across the city, reaching 73 older people and 93 younger people.
Through cooking, film and photography, woodcarving and iTea4u workshops, LinkAge brought the two generations together to share skills, knowledge and experience, but most importantly, to act as a catalyst to introduce restorative ideas, challenge stereotypes and increase understanding between the generations.
It was noticeably clear from the workshops, how much the younger people enjoyed helping the older people, with those who were particularly confident in the subject feeling that they could teach the older people new skills well. The workshops were a fun but beneficial experience for them to do this and they excelled in an environment that was not familiar to them.
The older people who attended also explained how much they enjoyed the workshops that they had attended, expressing how enjoyable it was to share skills that they had developed over the years with the younger people.
It was a pleasure for LinkAge to run these workshops for the 73 older people and 93 younger people that got involved and it was rewarding to see how a simple concept could help to build relationships between the generations in the community.
We hope that from this programme, both the younger and older people involved will continue to engage with activities within their communities.
Susan Kingdon
Intergenerational Restorative Justice Coordinator
To find out more about Connecting Generations CLICK HERE