Pensioners go back to college for tea with students

Skills for Life students welcome residents of Briarmede

Residents at Briarmede Residential Home took a trip to Hopwood Hall College in a project designed to bring different parts of the community together.

Wanting to help organisations in their local area, students studying at Hopwood Hall College’s Skills for Life department organised the event as part the community section of their course.

Four of Briarmede’s residents were welcomed into the Skills for Life department’s Thinc Café, where students prepared food and devised group-based games for their guests. Together, the students and the residents spent the day playing bingo and eating cake.

Skills for Life students have now been invited to take their tea parties to Briarmede once a month so that more of the care home’s residents can join in.

The project helps the Skills for Life students, who have a range of learning difficulties, develop their own confidence, learning and social skills.

Skills for Life student, Joshua Crabtree, said of his peers’ participation: “We really enjoyed having the residents come to our Thinc Café, it was nice to meet different people we would not get to see normally even though they live nearby.

“It was really good being able to plan the event and take part because we could see how much fun the visiting residents were having all day.

"I am looking forward to being able to go to Briarmede now and see them in their home.”