For Chester’s intergenerational community, what started off as a project fixing broken possessions has turned into its very own version of TV’s ‘The Repair Shop’, featuring older care village residents and nursery children giving a renewed lease of life to their treasures whilst gaining craftmanship skills and bonding over their newly discovered shared hobby.
The collaboration sees the ‘grandfriends’ in their 70s to 90s living at Belong Chester supporting Nursery in Belong children up to age five to use real tools at the repair workshops including drills, nails and screws, saws and sandpaper on an accessible workbench, specially designed to accommodate residents’ wheelchairs. Their ambitions have also led to diversifying into upcycling goods for use within the village’s integrated nursery, operated by national charity, Ready Generations.
Ruth Sandbach, nursery manager at The Nursery in Belong at Belong Chester, shares more: “We started off small, sewing missing buttons, restuffing teddy bears and gluing broken toys and as our children and grandfriends became more confident, they requested tools so they could try some bigger builds, and the results have been staggering.”
For the workshop’s most recent success, the village’s visiting storyteller and author Richard O’Neill has led the upcycle of pallets to create a special chair and stool to inspire the older residents to become storytellers themselves by sharing a tale or two with the nursery children.
Grandfriend and Belong Chester resident, Bill, 83, said: “I enjoy fixing things, I always have. In school it used to be woodwork and metalwork but I’m not sure they teach it anymore. I like showing the children how to use the tools – someone needs to show them.”
Championing the green agenda, the workshops form part of The Nursery in Belong’s support for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, helping children and residents to actively participate in helping to make the world a better place.
The project also incorporates the principles of Sankofa leadership, acknowledging the wisdom in learning from the past to ensure a strong, successful future, as exemplified by Belong Chester’s residents and apartment tenants taking on the role of nurturing the children by offering their time, patience and teaching to bring ideas to fruition.
Ruth continues: “Our children learn so much from their grandfriends: how to collaborate, communicate ideas, problem solve and evaluate, as well as reflect on their achievements for a job well done. Our repair shop also teaches them about sustainability, working safely and it gives them an authentic experience using real tools.
“Equally, our older friends benefit from rekindling former hobbies and having the chance to impart their years of experience and expertise. It’s one of many popular intergenerational experiences at the village and it looks like we may have a few mini–Jay Blades in the making.”
