On May 18th, Geoffrey Palmer launched Abbeyfield Week 2011 at the Houses of Parliament. Forty Seven MPs attended the launch and spoke of their respect for Abbeyfield and support of our theme, which was AGEnda Inter-generational Skill Swap. The initiative which was officially during Abbeyfield Week which was June 10th – June 19th celebrated the richness of skills of both the older and younger generations, and gave each, the opportunity to share a range of skills and be introduced to different things.
Abbeyfield houses all around the country took up the challenge with an impressive range of events that embraced the Skill Swap concept. The range of skills on offer was very wide, many houses, hosted ‘Living history sessions’; sharing stories of how they used to meet up, in the days before Facebook. Others were encouraged to share their skills and hobbies such as knitting, tapestry, baking, carpet bowls, Scrabble, dominoes and parlour games and in exchange the younger visitors showed residents how to use new Ipads, video camera’s, laptops, Wii and taught to Skype and tweet.
Residents, staff and visiting youngsters enjoyed a summer fayre in Nottingham, a barbecue in New Malden, Kingston Zoo animal even made an appearance! A strawberry cream tea with a youth orchestra was held in Stockport. Buckinghamshire worked as a group with members of The Leys and Wendover enjoying the performances of a young violinist and a female vocalist and a barbecue.
In Quorn a series of IT and internet lessons from university and college students was given to residents over the entire Abbeyfield Week – the residents even managed to squeeze in a day trip out mid-week, Stagecoach – a performance youth group, did their bit for skill swap and taught keen residents in Beverley, a Pixie Lott pop song with The Saggy Bottom boy-band bring up the rear with a rousing performance for the residents and the younger visitors too.
A garden party with stalls and tombola was hosted in Essex, jam-making with majorettes and wood-carving in the Isle of Wight was enjoyed by residents and visitors alike and Boccia (a game of indoor bowls) and picture framing was taught to the children of Alfriston School and the residents of Bradbury House in Beaconsfield.
An awareness event was hosted in Hoylake and West Kirby, a spot of community gardening in Northern Ireland and a strawberry tea and musical show in Wales. The Hampshire’s Fire brigade’s mascot, Blaze the bear, made an appearance at the Victorian country fayre at Tamar, a five house effort, teaching Abbeyfield residents and young visitors fire safety.
PR & Marketing Officer, Samantha Alleyne commented: “Abbeyfield Week 2011 has been a great success - and the quality and range of skills swapped was breath-taking! It was so good to see the exchange of knowledge between the younger visitors and the older residents, with everyone having such a good time.
I’d like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their efforts and hard work. We are greatly impressed and touched by the dedication, zeal and enthusiasm of our volunteers and staff. We’re thrilled that some of the houses will continue to remain in contact with the schools, youth groups, colleges and universities for future skill swap events over the next year"