Making the most of the summer holidays & availability of the young people, Emma & Evie planned a schedule of events that provided varied opportunities for our Change Makers to get involved in this two-year project.

The first date in the diary was to replant Oaklands Nursing Home's sensory garden, filling the empty flower beds & pots with vibrant scented flowers to make it a pleasant space for residents to enjoy the outdoors. Oaklands had kindly been donated a large quantity of plants by LPK Facilities Management & we also contributed some plants from our project budget. Aimee, Rosie, Emme & Jorja helped with this session & enjoyed getting to grips with a new skill (gardening!) and meeting some of the residents for the first time. 

We met up with Oaklands residents again on the recreation ground at Harle Syke - 16 residents & 6 Change Makers came along so it was a busy afternoon! We had initially planned to go on a walk around the woodlands together & use our Youth & Community Van as a base for refreshments, although the break in & burglary to the van the weekend preceding meant we had to think of a plan B. We reached out to Kiddy Kids, the children's play venue opposite Queen St Mill, and they kindly offered us a discount on refreshments so we were able to buy some ice creams & hot drinks which we all enjoyed together in the sunshine. Some Oaklands residents enjoyed a short walk accompanied by our Change Makers, then we played parachute together & were treated to some songs by Oaklands resident Jim. Several residents thanked us for a lovely afternoon & it was good to have the time to chat & get to know each other a little better, exactly what this Connected Generations project is all about. 

The following Saturday, we were thrilled to attend Briercliffe Show to accept an award for Best Community Garden for our planting work at Oaklands - Emme, Aimee & Rosie were able to join us along with 9 residents from Oaklands, who enjoyed looking around the produce on show. This award was a testament to the collaboration between Oaklands & the Change Makers & we are super proud of how they've got stuck in to these opportunities to make a positive change in our communities. 

On a Tuesday evening, 8 Change Makers joined the Blooming Briercliffe gardening club to get to know their members a little & discuss how we can work together & learn from each other in the coming months. We are hoping to join them to  plant some fruit trees in the autumn & they have also asked for 'tech help' from our young people - a good opportunity to swap & share skills demonstrated right there! Shaan & Finlay enjoyed playing the piano in the community centre & we all had a sing-song to 'Don't Stop Believing', which soundtracked our summer recap reel. 

Our last venture of the summer was a return to a local dementia support group, where 8 Change Makers got stuck into games of dominoes & chatted to group members. The young people love this group, getting a little more competitive at dominoes with each visit! We hope to return in October half term to further build on these intergenerational relationships.

A big thank you goes out to our Change Makers Grace, Shaan, Emme, Jorja, Aimee, Rosie, Harvey, Zak, Finlay & Ivana for volunteering their time to get involved and make a change this summer - you're all amazing! This project is funded by The National Lottery.