Burnham Intergenerational Project and the LaST Programme
Burnham Intergenerational Project began in the Autumn term of 2002. Shirley Shaw was BHPT’s Older People’s Project Worker at the time and had been meeting residents at Perry House sheltered housing scheme with Yasmin Ali, the Community Education Development Co-ordinator for Buckinghamshire Adult Learning.
Shirley remembers “It was around the time of the Golden Jubilee celebrations in June 2002 and it was hearing the residents reminisce about the Coronation that led us to start thinking of ways in which the residents may be able to share these and other memories with a wider audience, and particularly with children. We knew that Mrs King, the recently appointed Headteacher at St Peter’s C of E Primary School in Burnham, was keen to develop the school’s connection with the wider community and so the idea to link the school with Perry House was born”.
To date more than 600 children from Years 5 and 6 at St Peter’s School and 50 residents and friends of Perry House have enjoyed learning together through a range of shared activities and experiences.
When Covid struck in March 2020, the weekly meetings were adapted to take place on Zoom.
Based on our experience in Burnham we have developed LaST (Learning and Sharing Together) Intergenerational Programme. We would love to help other groups experience all the benefits that come from building intergenerational connections and so we have created The LaST Toolkit to share our experience, ideas and materials. For full details please visit the LaST website www.learningandsharingtogether.org.uk
It is impossible to talk about the Burnham Intergenerational Project and LaST without mentioning Marisa Di Bartolomeo, Community Project Worker with BHPT from 2015 to 2021. Sadly Marisa died in February 2022 but she will be remembered with great affection by the children and adults of the Burnham Intergenerational Project .
For more information on the LaST programme, visit their website here or see their dedicated Facebook page here
