Did you know we are a local leader in intergenerational care?

At Heaton House we’ve been running intergenerational sessions for two years. In fact, last year, we changed our daytime activities calendar to ensure that more regular visits from our local nursery were scheduled in.

Through the Encounter Project, we built a relationship with Little Elms, the nursery just around the corner from us, which enabled multiple generations to meet and what a joy it is!
The happiness we see on the residents faces when interacting with the little ones is just amazing to watch. We notice a lot of our residents stay positive throughout the remaining day; staying talkative and cheerful.

Not only are the benefits great for our residents, but for the children too. Age UK states that taking part in intergenerational activities helps to create more positive attitudes towards older people. Sowing the seeds of elderly positivity early on in a child’s life can really impact them for the better when they’re older.

When Little Elms nursery visits, we notice that the carers are often young themselves and have no problem with interacting with our residents. This enriches the intergenerational sessions as we can have up to four generations all interacting at the same time! 

The success of our partnership with Little Elms has lead us to work with two other local nurseries and actively seek out other types of intergenerational activity. For example; we had a young dancer perform for us recently who is 15. The residents were enthralled with her performance of both singing and dancing. The young dancer was even joined by her friend, Summer, who performed a duet to the residents! Having that interaction across generations is great to see and is a pleasure to have in our home.

Dancer, Lilly, with Heaton House owner Sally Neil-Smith, her family and friend, Summer. Photo taken pre-pandemic by Martin Bloomfield / Seaside Creative Ltd

It’s fantastic to see that intergenerational care has been getting more publicity in recent years; with news articles and other homes opening up the discussion about it. 

We hope to continue our partnership with Little Elms, other nurseries, schools and community groups to bring joy to all generations. 

Read our other blog on intergenerational care here.