The Generation Bridge Project

The Generation Bridge Project

Since receiving our funding in 2016, we have carried out several events within derby and some even in INDIA! In 2016, we held one care home fun-day event at Lavender lodge, providing massage -pampering, nail painting, henna art, games, art and crafts and musical live entertainment.

We did two further community events in the Derby Hindu temple and the Indian community centre for ethnic minority elderly people in derby.

Although our services the venues were arranged upon negotiation with local bodies, all our materials and equipment were generated through voluntary donations or bought from our funding money.

In 2016, we also turned a typical cultural holiday to India into a means to spread the message of our cause to India! We collaborated with a local school, Groom Up Academy, and other local young people to hold a 1- day event called “BACK -TO-SCHOOL – ELDERLY EDITION”. We held technology awareness talk for “grandparents”. Here the school children were advised to bring a grandparent to the talk, in order to discuss ways to bridge the generation gap through technology. Following this the two age groups received a “First Aid” training.

We also held a care home fun day event in India much like our fun days in Derby. In 2016, our main expenses funded by the Alec Dickinson Trust was our portable speakers which were of great use in all the events, from the talks and training delivered in “back-to-school- elderly-edition” to the community and care home events for playing music and musical liver performances. Besides this we bought Henna cones and art and crafts materials.

In 2017, we held yet another care home fun day event with our student cohorts at a care home called Langdale Heights. Our main expense this year was our first official banner of our Logo as well as henna cones etc.

In early 2018, we had yet another event in India. This time it was a home for learning difficulties, and our collaborating school was Groom up Academy again. Yet again our speakers and banner were of great impression and use for the musical entertainment provided.

Meanwhile, our recruitment and training process for student volunteers in Derby (Littleover Community School) underwent major reform.   We established the importance of regular meetings, appropriate documentation of meeting outcomes and the availability of refreshments for volunteers to keep them motivated. These costs were also covered by the Alec Dickinson Trust Fund.  Between 2017 and 2018, the volunteers of the Generation Bridge Project also represented the charity in local events to raise awareness and garner support from the local community. We held a small fundraiser at the UK’s Next Fitness Model competition held in Derby, to generate some more funds.

The materials for this fundraiser (raffle, food and drinks) was funded by Alec Dickinson. Furthermore we bought our first labelled charity bucket, portfolio folder and stand up banner, for our brand endorsement all from the funds generated and Alec Dickinson! This was a great way to encourage some our volunteers’ communication, public speaking and marketing skills! We had our care home fun day event in the summer of 2018 at Langdale heights, with a total turnout of 40 students! This was double that of all previous years! Our second care home event of the year at Lavender Lodge was an even bigger success with the whole team joining in on the MACARENA with care staff and residents on the dance floor as a finale act of our mandatory talent show! With such a wonderful outcome of the project, we decided to introduce official colour printed and laminated certificates for all – 30 were issued and additional category awards! The awards were personalised and there were 12 student volunteers who won something! All this and refreshments were funded from our Alec Dickinson Fund and partially by our fundraised amount.

In 2018, we recruited 70 STUDENT VOLUNTEERS! Meetings between 2018 and 2019 followed a similar format to the previous year, paper documentation and refreshments.

We also considered new GDPR guidelines and got signed code of conduct agreements and photo and video permission agreements from all students for record keeping for the school and our books. All meetings this year were registered and for the first time students were able to use The Generation Bridge Project as part of their “Enrichment Project”. This meant they got Thursday afternoons off every week from school to dedicate to the project in the time allocated specially for CV- building- supra-curricular activities. This year we introduced the competitive fund-off that involved all students to get into groups of 7 and each group to compete to raise money in the most novel ways possible. They would have to submit a short evaluation report as well as the funds raised at the end of 3-month period. Although only 2 groups formally took part in this challenge, it was a great test of their teamwork, entrepreneurial and marketing skills, all of which look great on CVs! In the summer of 2019, we held our first care home event at lavender lodge and our second at Manorfields. Where our first event saw a guest appearance by “Marylyn Monroe”, and other local guest bands and performers, our second event was a bombastic successful Bollywood themed event! Care staff at Manorfields and all our volunteers got a chance to dress up with colourful scarves and bindis and get henna and make overs with freebies to take home as part of the event.

Moreover, the care staff and residents had their families over with many young kids milling about the care home floors. The male student volunteers took charge of the little boys keeping them engaged in the games corner, while the little girls flocked to our make over counter! The entire atmosphere of the care home was lifted, and many residents were gushing at so many colours and so many young lively faces! Our final event was a collaboration with Derby Homes, where our volunteers provided entertainment to south Asian over 65 ladies group at an assisted living community hall.

Yet again all our volunteers were awarded with laminated colour certificates (30) and individual and group awards (15). Awards were for different skill sets like best communication, best leadership etc. We even had a peer voted Volunteer of the year award! Lina Mohammed a 17-year-old volunteer got a framed certificate and prize hamper for her enthusiasm in leading the human train on our first event and meticulously painting every female elderly residents’ nails at our second event! We also ensured our volunteers got some savoury and sweet treats and drinks during our awards ceremony! The above expenses finally used up the last of our Alec Dickinson trust fund money.