This was a totally fabulous session, heart warming and life affirming. The young people from Chantry Middle School and the residents at Riverside House had a blast!!

 The preparation for the session was crucial.  The exchange of photographs, invitiations and making of fortunetellers meant that everyone had something to talk about and something to do from the very start.

The sharing of our physical warm ups and the children's preparation of a dance was great and very effective in keeping everyone engaged.  Conversations were effortless and the session flew by.  Residents commented that it was great to have someone who was actually interested in talking to you.

The quality of listening by the young people was amazing as their willingness to talk about their lives openly.  The teacher from Chantry commented on how the project had had a positive effect on many of the children who struggle with various aspects of school life.  In this context they were able to engage, to initiate and respond and to be part of what was a very large group.

The atmosphere was fantastic; everyone joined in everything and encouraged each other.  We sang and danced and talked and created origami boats together on which we wrote the places we dreamed of visiting.  It was really moving when the children and residents gave their feedback and said that they were going to sail off together.

One child commented, "This is just the best."

The residents were notably energised by the experience and commented that they had thoroughly enjoyed it.

We documented resident's responses with video interviews and hopr to capture the children's responses next week.