Highly Commended for Saltburn Care Home in Global Intergenerational Competition

A Saltburn care home has been “Highly Commended” in a global intergenerational competition after a multicultural activity with school pupils.

Hazelgrove Court Care Home, on Randolph Street, received the accolade from charity National Activity Providers Association (NAPA) for their generation bridging initiative.

Elderly residents teamed up with secondary pupils from Huntcliff School, on Marske Mill Lane, for a series of country-inspired activities, from tongue twisters to party games.

First, the groups were challenged to pronounce the Welsh village of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch (also known in a short form as Llanfairpwllgwyngyll or Llanfair PG).

Then pupils demonstrated their language skills, saying tongue twisters they had been learning in German and Spanish classes at school.

Afterwards it was residents versus pupils in a multicultural quiz, with the school team winning by a small margin. Then a Mardis Gras party game was won by resident Joan Johnson, 93.

Fellow resident and globetrotter Anne Thompson, 88, demonstrated her mastery of chopsticks during a game of pick up the marshmallows and showed pupils a map of all the countries she has visited during her lifetime.

Resident Ellen Else, 95, a former headmistress, said: “How wonderful it is to have the children in. It always brings back wonderful memories.”

NAPA’s Global Intergernational Week Competition challenged their care sector members to run activities that connect the younger and older generations.

Taking on that challenge at Hazelgrove Court Care Home was activities coordinator Sharon Lewis, who devised the multicultural activities for residents to participate in with the school pupils.

She said: “NAPA challenged us to run an activity that connects people of different ages, so we immediately thought of the pupils at nearby Huntcliff School, who were only too happy to visit.

“We were delighted to get a “Highly Commended” certificate from NAPA for our activities, which everyone who took part thoroughly enjoyed.

“It was great to hear the residents and children laugh together throughout the day – especially when trying to saying the Welsh village name.”