Old and Young teaming up for a battle of wits!

Around 240 youngsters and older people spent an afternoon pitting their wits against each other at an intergenerational event held at the Paisley Lagoon Centre

The ‘intergenerational competition’ has been set up by the Kirkton Service and partners to challenge negative stereotypes surrounding age and give young and old the opportunity to work together. And the relationships built up has fostered links between the generations which are set to continue.

For months teams of old and younger people have been meeting every Friday to teach each other skills.

The teams, made up of groups of older people and school pupils from East Renfrewshire, Renfrewshire and North Ayrshire battled it out over a series of challenges which include playing a game of golf on the Wii, identifying fashion through the ages and hanging washing on a line.

The intergenerational quiz is part of the council’s commitment to reshape care for older people. It’s enabling older people to become part of their community and helping to break down barriers by getting younger and older people to work together to share information and skills. This has many benefits including reducing isolation, improving mental health and providing structure to an older person’s week.

The event has been put together in partnership with East Renfrewshire’s CHCP, the Kirkton Service, community planning team, education and housing services. This year’s community partners included Mary’s Meals, The Richmond Fellowship, the Neilston Development Trust and local community volunteers.

It’s the second year the quiz has run and Generations Working Together have employed an intern to work with Alan Stevenson the Community Link Worker to develop a national toolkit that will allow other authorities to mirror the good practice that has been developed within East Renfrewshire.

This year the quiz made the STV news and can be viewed here.