Our History

Alan Hatton-Yeo MBE our retired chair explains the journey of how intergenerational work spread across the UK which led to the creation of a national centre in Scotland.

Generations Working Together is a registered Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation SC045851. Although a new charity GWT was established in 2007 and were originally known as the Scottish Centre for Intergenerational Practice, and was developed as a partnership programme, by 12 organisations working closely with the Scottish Government Age and Older People Team.

The Centre was developed as part of a Scottish Government consultation to explore issues facing society in meeting the challenges of an ageing population.

The Government’s strategy document All Our Futures: Planning for a Scotland with an Ageing Population outlines 4 major areas for intergenerational activity.

  • Public bodies, such as Local Authorities, NHS trusts, Police forces and others, creating opportunities for older people and younger people to interact positively in their area, e.g. in schools (in classrooms and in the governance arrangements for schools); in youth work; in services for older people; and in sport, culture and leisure.
  • Businesses working on how their older employees might help develop the skills and capacity of young people – both within companies and in the wider community.
  • Voluntary organisations developing further opportunities for older and younger people to work together and share experiences.
  • Older and younger people looking for opportunities to contribute to the development of other generations – as grandparents or grandchildren; as role models; as experienced working colleagues; and as volunteers, etc.

For the first four years GWT was jointly managed by the University of Strathclyde and Community Service Volunteers (CSV) directed by a steering group and funded by the Scottish Government. Early in 2011 the Scottish Government decided to appoint Scottish Mentoring Network (SMN), supported by Alan Hatton-Yeo then Chief Executive of the Beth Johnson Foundation, to manage the Scottish Centre for Intergenerational Practice and this took effect from 1st April 2011. It was soon agreed to re-brand the organisation as Generations Working Together to more accurately reflect the range of work which GWT planned to undertake.

Towards the end of the financial year March 2015 SMN’s board agreed that GWT should apply for charity status to open up further opportunities for funding.

A copy of our constitution can be downloaded here.