Season’s Greetings from InCommon

What better way to mark the festive season than looking back on a fantastic few months?

In September, we started a new term of intergenerational workshops, connecting more than 12 retirement schemes with local schools and youth groups. Participants got to know each other by exploring the theme of autumn. We shared our favourite autumnal meals (bangers and mash seems to be a favourite across the generations!), created a gratitude tree and explored what we all feel grateful for in the Autumn, including their new friendships with each other.

In October, we were joined by an extra special guest, children’s author Ella Phillips. She visited George Padmore House in Hackney to run a special storytelling workshop for Black History Month. She brought her new book My Grandma’s Magic Recipes: Winter Warmth to life with textured materials and scents. Inspired by meeting a real life author, younger people developed their own short stories with the help of their older volunteers.

In our November workshops, younger and older people mapped out their lives in the form of a river. Participants interviewed each other and documented significant changes in their life, from starting primary school to moving house. One of our older participants in Merton told the children that he envisioned his life river to be like the one he remembers from his home country in Guyana. Meanwhile, one of the children shared that after drawing their Life River, they understood that "sometimes life can be choppy but then we return back to normal”.

Click on the photos to see some highlights from the autumn term:

And with the festive season upon us, it’s only right to shine a light on our December workshops. We gathered one last time before the end of term for some festive activities and discussions. We spoke about our favourite cultural celebrations and traditions across the year, sang some songs, and put up some festive bunting in the retirement scheme lounges.

One group created their own winter warmth zine, inspired by Ella Phillips’ book on warming winter recipes. It features ways to keep warm over the winter months, from hot soup to snuggling up on the sofa. See some snippets below.

We’ve loved watching the friendships develop between younger people and their older neighbours these past few months. We hope you enjoy the winter break and we look forward to sharing more updates in the New Year.