Bringing ‘bookend generations’ together has been a huge success

Two generations have been coming together with remarkable results as part of a pilot project involving a nursery and an old people’s home in Kirkcaldy.

Staff at the Daisy Chain Nursery in the town’s Loughborough Road have been taking children to visit elderly residents in Wilby House for the last five weeks – and so far they say it has been a runaway success.

Now nursery manager Lynn Littwin hopes others in the area will follow suit, having seen first-hand the benefits brought about by the interaction between the so-called “bookend generations”.

“I was inspired by the coverage that the intergenerational projects have been getting on the news recently and I thought to myself ‘we’ve got this nursing home right across the road’,” she explained.

“So I put in a proposal to the care manager and she welcomed this with open arms.

“Every week for the last four to five weeks we’ve been taking a group of the children across and the kids join in group activities, which has been great to see.”

Activities have ranged from arts and crafts and biscuit decorating to exercise classes and blowing bubbles.

And it’s a new tactic that looks likely to be replicated elsewhere across Fife.

“It’s been really heartwarming and I think we’ve started something really special,” Lynn added.

“You can see the bonds that have been forged and we’ve already had other childcare facilities approaching us about what we’ve been doing.

“The children really love it and the older people really come alive.”

Picture: George McLuskie. Christina Crawford and Fern Brown, aged three, enjoy meeting up as part of a special cross-generations project.