Kissing it Better

Our volunteering-from-home programme is developing at pace. We now offer three different zoom sessions. ‘Valuing Older People’ is approved by the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. Our specialist masterclasses add extra value if you’re working towards a career in healthcare. And our brand new ‘Zooming into Care Homes’ project is a great way to connect with older people, and share their stories.

Ever since the very first lockdown, KiB singers have been performing outside care homes and in hospital gardens across the country. These sessions bring joy, lift spirits and send a powerful message to older people that they’ve not been forgotten by the outside world. Now we’ve edited some of the best bits into a singalong video that you can share with older friends and relatives.

KiB students have been interviewing older relatives about times of isolation and loneliness in their youth – from wartime evacuation to quarantine for deadly diseases. Now these stories are set to be published in an important collection called ‘In My Day, Memories of Isolation’, by the Stratford Literary Festival.

There’s a new look to our timetable of Zoom sessions. We’re still running regular zooms to support our volunteering-from-home programme (approved by the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award). But we’re now also offering a host of specialist sessions and masterclasses. These new zooms give us the chance to delve more deeply into the challenges of old age, and look at how you can help support older people in your community – great for students who want to pursue a career in healthcare. Read on for more details.

Since lockdown began, KiB singers have been lifting the spirits of older, vulnerable people by performing outside care homes and in hospital gardens. These sessions send a powerful message of hope and togetherness, showing older people that they have not been forgotten by the outside world.

We’re all feeling anxious under lockdown and missing friends and family. So let’s take advice from the people who lived through quarantine, homesickness and isolation 80 years ago. Help KiB capture inspirational wartime stories for a new generation to learn from and enjoy.

Help us spread messages of hope and togetherness. Send us your poetry, your artwork and your inspirational articles and we will share them with lonely older people to show them that the world still cares.

Spring brings lighter days and lovely flowers and lots of fresh new conversation openers. Here are five to be getting on with….

As you know, we love to bring the generations together to tell stories – but it can be tricky to start a conversation with someone who’s so much older than you. Here are five ways to kick-start a lovely warm chat in February…

We’re running open evenings for DofE students who want to volunteer with us. If you’re working towards your Bronze, Silver or Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award, and you live in Birmingham or London, please join us to find out how you can sign up for healthcare volunteering experience through KiB.