A CORNISH charity is promoting intergenerational relationships through an after-school project linking Cornish schools and care homes.

The Creative Spaces project, the Sensory Trust’s flagship dementia project, is creating connections between Cornish schoolchildren and those in care homes living with dementia through meaningful nature-based activity sessions.

The National Lottery-funded project has linked children from Calstock Community Primary School with those living at Chyvarhas care home in Callington since September and the project will be running for the next three years.

The aim of the project is to eventually link two care homes and two schools.

The themed monthly after school sessions between the Calstock schoolchildren and those living with dementia at Chyvarhas have involved activities such as wreath making, planting herbs, making ceramic tiles and making soup from the herbs they have grown.

Ellie Robinson Carter, Creative Spaces project manager has an undeniable passion for intergenerational work. She explained the benefits of the project for both age groups.

Ellie said: ‘It’s been inspiring watching how open the children and the older people are to meeting each other and connecting and how much the children love coming and find so much value in being around the older people.

‘We can all find our own connection to nature and it’s a very inclusive tool to find connection.

‘It’s been lovely seeing the children grow in confidence and seeing how at ease they are in that environment.

‘Also for the older people, building these relationships has brought up lots of old skills and allowed them to reconnect them to themselves.

‘The project is about realising how connecting the age groups is beneficial for both sides.’

Aside from the value of nurturing these relationships, Ellie also expressed the importance of the intergenerational work for eliminating the stigma surrounding dementia.

‘Children don’t see the dementia’, Ellie said.

‘They do see the person and they’re very good at finding a way in because they don’t have that same stigma that adults may have about dementia.

‘Seeing these relationships gives you a sense of hope and is a positive thing for everybody including the care home staff, teachers and parents.

‘The project is about building empathy and understanding and trying to challenge the stigma around dementia, and something we are passionate about is nurturing a dementia-friendly generation.’

For more information visit: https://www.sensorytrust.org.uk/