George, 14, said: “I think it was good getting to see what other groups of people experience. We have the opportunity to come to places like The Hive, and there are a lot more things that people our age can do. But the older generations who maybe don’t have a lot of family, they’re just stuck at home all the time and can’t really do much – so it was good that we could help them engage. One person hadn’t been out of their room in months and they came down just because they knew we were coming. Knowing that we made a difference to someone that much was amazing.”
Jess, 15, said: “It was nice talking to them, hearing their stories and what they think about things.”
Angelos, 16, said: “The first day we felt really awkward, then it got better as we got more confident. We did lots of mini games like boccia, curling, armchair basketball, noughts and crosses, tin can alley, The Price is Right, and singing. I thought they’d be a bit quiet, but they all got really involved.”
Youth worker Bex Pollard, who supported the group, said: “We wanted to have some progression: we were going into their homes to see how they live and what they do, and then we wanted to bring them into The Hive to see what we do.
“One of the comments from the seniors was that ‘All you ever hear are the bad things that young people are up to, but this is a great group giving up their time.’ They were impressed to see teenagers of this age coming in rather than only younger children; what they enjoyed was that the young people clearly wanted to do it. They didn’t look bored, fed up or like they were being forced to do it. And it’s really inspired the young people to do more.”
Rosie, 13, said: “It did change our perceptions of older people, and I think theirs of us.”
Izzy, 16, added: “It helped us boost our confidence, the first time to the last. We were all panicking initially because we hadn’t done this sort of thing before, but by the last visit we came out and said that was the last one, but we don’t want it to be. We want to carry on.”
