Care Home Residents Join Forces With Nursery Children For Arts Festival

Residents from a care home in Steyning who joined forces with pre-schoolers on an art project have seen the fruits of their labour showcased at the annual Steyning Festival.

Croft Meadow care home residents and staff welcomed the children from Elan Nursery for eight consecutive weeks to complete their masterpiece – a forget-me-not flower made from 13,000 buttons. The symbolic art piece was a representation of the Alzheimer’s Society – whose symbol is a forget-me-not – with one button for each person in West Sussex living with a dementia.

The ages of those involved in the intergenerational activity ranged from two to 102-years-old and both the children and the residents enjoyed spending time together, seeing the impressive artwork come to fruition.

Croft Meadow acting home manager, Stacy Reed, commented: “Intergenerational activities like this are so precious. Seeing our residents interact with the children is such a joy and the they look forward to every visit. You can see the wonderful friendships forming amongst them. We would also like to thank everyone who donated buttons to make the project possible.”

The finished piece was displayed at the Steyning Festival and will now take pride of place on the wall at the Shaw healthcare-run care home. Both staff and residents at the home are looking forward to future visits from Elan Nursery to continue working on intergenerational projects.