KiB exists to connect people, so there’s never been a more important time for our work. But we are a small charity; we need to partner with others to ensure that everyone can benefit from what we’ve discovered: that bringing the generations together makes everybody’s life richer, healthier and more meaningful. Since summer 2024, we’ve been working with the Centre for Social Justice to spread this message and help embed our ideas.

Meanwhile, we’re doing everything we can to connect young and old. Across the country, our thousands of student volunteers meet with older people on Zoom or in real life to have fun, to learn new things and to reminisce about old things. They laugh together, sing together, play board games together and even read funny play scripts out loud. We have emails from hundreds of young people who say they feel more connected to their community because of our work.

When young and old get together, everybody benefits. The older people feel valued and cared for, and the younger ones feel a new sense of purpose. They also learn that real life is not as scary as they thought: there’s nothing like a chat with a spirited 85-year-old to put things into a very different perspective.

In the past year –

• 3,500 students signed up for our Zoom Teaching & Volunteering programme, which shows young people how to connect with over-70s thoughtfully and creatively; then gives them the chance to virtually ‘visit’ older people in care settings, or living alone in their own homes.
• 500 students worked with us to deliver real-life visits to hospitals, care homes and community groups at our programmes in Dorset, London, Leeds and Warwickshire. Some used their talents to create music, dance and drama projects; others offered relaxing hand massages and much-needed haircuts and grooming to older people on hospital wards.
• 2,500 primary school children took part in our primary school workshop, ‘When Great Granny Came to Stay’. These fun and imaginative sessions help children understand what it’s like to be old in a rapidly-changing modern world; they also feature thoughtful ways to show older relatives and family friends that they are loved and remembered. Once a school has completed our workshop, we set up KiB clubs to link them to local care homes and day centres, so the children get the chance to light up the day for older people in their community too.
• On top of all this, hundreds of our KiB volunteers made gifts, cards and goody bags to send into care homes and hospitals at our programmes in the Midlands, London and Dorset, so older people never feel forgotten.

To join our volunteer programme click the following link to fill in our volunteer sign-up form: http://eepurl.com/g9_jtj

Researchers at the University of Swansea’s Dementia Research Group designed a qualitative research study into the effect of our project on older people’s memory and mood. We carried out the research in September, with members from our Crossgates Good Neighbours Group in Leeds. This autumn, lead researcher Dr Kyle Jones will assess the results and produce a report.

Across the globe, researchers are excited by the concept of ‘cognitive reserve’: the idea that particular activities protect your brain against dementia and memory loss. It’s never too late to start: even people already living with dementia can benefit. To have an effect on cognitive reserve, activities should be:

• Challenging: having to pay active attention, and work with others, gives the brain a powerful workout.
• Social: doing an activity with others is much better for the brain than doing a crossword alone.
• Following a story with different characters: reading a play is more beneficial than, for instance, reading a newspaper

Ella get your gun! Ella performs in the comedy Tea for Terror

Our programme worked with more than 150 older people from care homes, retirement complexes and community groups. We rewrite our plays (with permission!) so they can be performed by people with physical and cognitive challenges. There’s no physical acting as all stage directions are described by a narrator. And every character’s part is highlighted, so people with dementia can easily follow the script and enjoy the fun, the challenge, and all the medical benefits.

We partnered with:

• A care home in Warwick
• Two MHA retirement-living complexes in Leeds
• Three community groups for people still living in their own homes in Yorkshire.
• We also ran a Zoom group, in partnership with MHA Communities, Huddersfield.

Thanks to the Pargiter Trust for funding this brilliant project.

“The most fun we’ve ever had on a Monday afternoon,” Harold and Brian, KiB Comedy Club members

Funding Update Summer 2024

We are delighted to receive recent grants from –

The National Lottery Reaching Communities Fund awarded KiB £150,000 over three years to help us:

• build our Teaching Programme in Warwickshire and West Midlands
• consolidate our intergenerational work in the region, including training courses and volunteering projects for young people aged 15-25
• and expand our popular primary schools project ‘When Great Granny Came to Stay’.

The funding enables a real step change for KiB over the next three years and will help us reach thousands more isolated older people to reduce loneliness and bring the generations closer together.

The Garfield Weston Foundation: £25,000 towards our intergenerational training and volunteering programmes.

The Wesleyan Foundation: £9,000 towards developing our ‘Great Granny’ workshops and KiB Clubs in new areas.

The Coventry Building Society: £1,900 to support our ‘Great Granny’ workshops and KiB Clubs for primary schools in Coventry.

WPH Charitable Trust: £5000 towards our intergenerational work in Warwickshire and West Midlands

Shanly Foundation: £2000 towards our monthly Bishops Stortford ‘What’s On’ community calendar

A big shout out to students at Aylesford School who have raised an incredible £1200 for KiB, and King Edward VI High School for Girls Birmingham students for their recent fundraiser. Warm thanks also to regular supporters Warwick School and King’s High School, for their continued support.

Thank you Priors House Care Home (Care UK) in Leamington for their kind donation of £400.

And a huge thanks to all our long-term supporters, including Pargiter Trust and The Rank Foundation, and our private donors – every gift means so much to us.

Students played music (Beatles songs went down a storm!) and shared stories with patients and their families. They all said the experience opened their eyes to what life was really like on a hospital ward, especially for older people.

They spent valuable time with Dr Omar Khalil, (who volunteered with KiB when he was at school) and Emma Jones, Dementia Nurse Consultant.

Sixth former Emma said: “Thank you for giving me a place on the work experience. The time spent with patients and talking to the staff was invaluable, and highlighted the importance of communication, empathy, patience and being open-minded.”

Another student added: “Speaking to the dementia nurse consultants changed my perspective on the way people with dementia behave.”

Jashany and Sophie, KiB Ambassadors

Dr Omar Khalil and the group

Children from Camp Hill Primary in Nuneaton get excited about our Great Granny workshop.

KiB CEO Jill Fraser says: ‘The more that can be done to encourage young and old to share stories, the greater the chances of both age groups feeling more valued, better connected, kinder and more informed citizens in the future.’

Once children have taken part in the  workshops, they are supported to visit local care homes. Here, Kathleen, 96, is trying on her new Easter Bonnet, made by children from Gledhow Primary School in Leeds, who visit regularly to share stories, music and arts and crafts sessions.

‘Our oldest relatives and family friends are a fantastic source of wonderful stories about life in the past,’ says Jill Fraser. ‘Add to that their own special memories of key national and international moments and the wisdom they gained through living through those times, they not only have the ability to inform and entertain a much younger generation, they can also gain much satisfaction from sharing their often rich and sometimes unique sources of knowledge before they are lost forever.

‘With funding from local councils and other funders, membership of KiB clubs is free to schools and includes the workshop and access to online activity packs to help children engage with their own older relatives and, whenever possible, their local care home/day centre. We also offer packages to a range of out-of-school clubs.’

Contact Jill on 07831 136152 to get involved.

We offer a rich range of ways to volunteer:
-Supervised zooms into care homes, hospitals or the homes of people living on their own
-Training in a variety of different activities that you can use towards your volunteering hours
-Masterclasses, with guest speakers, for those interest in a career in healthcare and other careers linked to communication
-Direct connections to care homes, where you can make and create items that will be sent to the residents
…and so much more!

All our virtual volunteering sessions are designed to broaden your understanding of the many challenges of old age. We hope this will help you support and connect with older people in your community. And we know it will benefit you, especially if you’re keen to pursue a career in healthcare.

SIGN UP TO JOIN OUR PROGRAMME HERE: https://kissingitbetter.us10.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=74c9d199e9b5f95cf6c6032fa&id=cff411ce4c

Once you sign up, you will be added to our mailing list and sent an email with what to expect next. Later that week, you will then be sent our weekly newsletter, with all the latest details and sessions we are running.  If you are not receiving our newsletter with the weekly timetable (many email systems reject all or part of them), please contact [email protected], and she will send it to you separately.

ASSESSORS: We ask your assessors within school to sign off on your volunteering experience. However, if this is not possible, contact [email protected].

ACTIVITY LOGS: You can find our activity log here: Kissing-it-Better-Volunteering-Activity-Log  If you are interested in medicine, we also recommend you use this log to take note of the medical related skills you have gained from this experience. Here’s the link: Evidence-of-Medical-related-Skills-Gained-Through-Volunteering-1-2

PHONE GUIDELINES: For guidelines for phoning an older person, click: Guidelines for phoning an older person revised 10th Feb 2022

OTHER FAQs: If you have any questions about the Kissing it Better Programme, please check our FAQs Volunteering from Home or get in touch with [email protected]

Our latest drama production, A Cut Above the Rest by Claire Demmer, was funded by the University of York. Four drama students helped our players tackle a tricky knockabout farce about a diamond heist. The university is now running a research study into the benefits of Zoom drama for older people.

Unlike regular drama groups, ours is completely inclusive: we never come off script, so you don’t need to learn lines; and it’s all done sitting-down, which is great for older people with mobility challenges. Most of all, it’s a lot of fun.

You can watch a clip here

Or if you’d like to see the whole play, click here

Our next Zoom production will also be sponsored by the University of York. It’s a 40s film-noir-style production called Who Killed Santa. If you know an older person who might like to get involved, please contact [email protected].

We offer a rich range of ways to volunteer:
-Supervised zooms into care homes, hospitals or the homes of people living on their own
-Training in a variety of different activities that you can use towards your volunteering hours
-Masterclasses, with guest speakers, for those interest in a career in healthcare and other careers linked to communication
-Direct connections to care homes, where you can make and create items that will be sent to the residents
…and so much more!

All our virtual volunteering sessions are designed to broaden your understanding of the many challenges of old age. We hope this will help you support and connect with older people in your community. And we know it will benefit you, especially if you’re keen to pursue a career in healthcare.

SIGN UP TO JOIN OUR PROGRAMME HERE: https://kissingitbetter.us10.list-manage.com/subscribe?u=74c9d199e9b5f95cf6c6032fa&id=cff411ce4c

Once you sign up, you will be added to our mailing list and sent an email with what to expect next. Later that week, you will then be sent our weekly newsletter, with all the latest details and sessions we are running.  If you are not receiving our newsletter with the weekly timetable (many email systems reject all or part of them), please contact [email protected], and she will send it to you separately.

ASSESSORS: We ask your assessors within school to sign off on your volunteering experience. However, if this is not possible, contact [email protected].

ACTIVITY LOGS: You can find our activity log here: Kissing-it-Better-Volunteering-Activity-Log  If you are interested in medicine, we also recommend you use this log to take note of the medical related skills you have gained from this experience. Here’s the link: Evidence-of-Medical-related-Skills-Gained-Through-Volunteering-1-2

PHONE GUIDELINES: For guidelines for phoning an older person, click: Guidelines for phoning an older person revised 10th Feb 2022

OTHER FAQs: If you have any questions about the Kissing it Better Programme, please check our FAQs Volunteering from Home or get in touch with [email protected]

Before Christmas, we launched a children’s art project to help Warwick Hospital patients feel connected to the outside world during their stay. As the pictures were set to decorate Castle Ward, the challenge was to create a piece of artwork on the theme of ‘castles’.

“There’s growing evidence that having access to inspirational art can support the mental and physical wellbeing of older patients,” says Caty Oates, KiB Project Director in Warwickshire. “And it’s lovely for patients to know that children in their community are thinking about them and want to do something to help.”

Hundreds of children entered. When Warwick Castle heard about the idea, they stepped in and offered free tickets to the winners. One lucky winner’s picture will be turned into a notelet to be sold at the castle; all proceeds to go to KiB.

Left: a  Knight at Warwick castle is holding artwork by Matilda Long, North Leamington School

Below: Puroshini Pather and Carla Lea with pictures from Oscar and Maisie Hotten from Aylesford School

In January, Judi Dench sent us a video to share with you all, featuring her pet parrot Sweetie (that’s Dame Judi Dench – we were so excited!).

Dame Judi was inspired to share the clip by a BBC News story about our intergenerational zoom sessions, where children showed off their pets…

In 2021, we gave more than 3,000 young people the chance to volunteer virtually and make a difference to isolated older people who live alone, or in care. June, one of the older people we work with, told us what these Zoom connections have meant to her since she moved to her new care home…

We asked our young volunteers how they had benefited, and a whopping 91% said that Kissing it Better Zooms had positively changed their attitudes towards older people; 86% of volunteers surveyed said KiB Zooms had a positive impact on their mood and sense of self-value, and helped them to feel like part of a community.

We also connected with students in education: we taught our KiB Enrichment and Volunteering Programme in schools across the country during term time, and we even ran our first KiB Virtual Summer School. Here’s what Elena said about her experience…

So here’s to 2022. Let’s make it a fantastic one!