Sowing seeds of friendship

MINDFUL gardening, crocheting and all things creative are on the cards in Dromore this April, as the young and the experienced are teaming up together to learn new skills in celebration of ‘Intergenerational Month’.

Taking part in the fun-filled initiative, funded by Linking Generations NI, are members of Dromore and Trillick GP over-65s group, the Tuesday Club, and a group of students from St John’s Business and Enterprise College, Dromore.

Event organiser and social work assistant for Dromore and Trillick GP practice, Martina Doherty, said that the collaboration is a brilliant way to, quite literally, sow seeds of friendship through the generations.

“The students have been coming down to the group for the last few months to get to know the members,” she explained. “They have definitely built up a rapport with the club members.

“As part of the ‘Linking Generations’ event, all attendees are taking part in both gardening and crocheting. In fact, one of our Tuesday Club members, Martha Magee, is fantastic at crocheting, and she has been enjoying showing the pupils her skills.”

During one of the sessions on Tuesday, Martha, the expert crocheter, told the UH, “Crocheting is a great past time for me, and it’s lovely to be among the young ones and see how creative they can be. It’s a shame to think, nowadays, that it isn’t taught in schools.

“It’s a pleasure for me to pass my skills onto the students – and to know that I can do it still!” she joked.

The students taking part are equally enjoying learning these new skills.

During Tuesday’s event, Leah said, “I enjoyed how relaxing, satisfying and therapeutic crocheting was.”

Another pupil, Shauna, said that she enjoyed getting to know some of the Tuesday Club members.

And as crocheting was getting underway inside, busy hands were at work outside planting seeds.

Tuesday Club member, Mary McCoy, said that she is ‘very grateful’ that the boys and girls from St John’s are helping the group sow their seeds.

“We are delighted to be a part of this intergenerational project with St John’s,” she described. “It’s great to have communication between the young and the not-so-young.”

Echoing these words, Eoin and Rory said they are also thoroughly enjoying the experience.

They told the UH that they liked helping the older people, while ‘getting to know them better’ – adding that they ‘couldn’t wait’ to watch the plants grow!

And the fun doesn’t stop there: The students of St John’s and the Tuesday Club members will return again next week for more planting and knitting.