Legacy
Legacy
Please note: this post is 145 months old and The Cares Family is no longer operational. This post is shared for information only
Up till Christmas, we're publishing blog posts about the work we've done in 2012, month-by-month...
In April, we held the very first of our Film Nights, bringing older people together with younger volunteers to share a cup of tea, a sandwich, a movie and some conversation.
The events started small. Only five older people came along to our first club, and three volunteers. Now we welcome between 15 and 20 of our older neigbours and sometimes 7 or 8 younger neighbours. And we host three or four events each week at various locations across Camden and Islington.
These occasions are not just about watching a great film, like Kes, My Week with Marilyn or It's a Wonderful Life. They are about creating the type of positive interactions that might not normally occur, across generations and sometimes across socio-economic groups too.
Many of our volunteers -- like Richard, Amy, Sarah, Louisa, Aleesha and Laoise -- return again and again because they value the relationships they've built with their older neighbours.
They hear amazing stories. Ted often speaks about the time Princess Margeret asked him out. Albert regails his new friends with tales of his judo black belting days. Wendy is good friends with Alice Herz Sommer, the world's oldest known Holocaust survivor.
Those volunteers and the dozens of others, who have now helped host 70 social clubs this year, always create a wonderful, vibrant, informal, friendly and welcoming atmosphere -- bringing new opportunities and social connections to the Drovers, Ingestre Road Community Centre, Queen's Crescent Community Centre, Lenox House and several other places.