Young people are bridging the generation gap - through a game of cards. Twelve Year Four children from Bolton St Catherine's Academy are part of the RotaKids club at the school, which is supported by Rotary Bolton Lever. As part of their local community action plan, secretary Poppy Taylor, aged eight, wrote a formal letter to the activities manager, Bev Stewart, at The Withins Care Home if the pupils could lead an activities afternoon with the residents.
As well as playing UNO with them, the pupils left them with some playing aids to help with their mobility. Recognising that some of the residents would struggle to hold the cards, the young advocates sought out a solution. They found some manipulative aids online that are suitable for the elderly, those with Parkinson's disease, or decreased gross motor skills.
RotaKid Isla Mason, aged 8 teaches one of the residents how to play her hand (Image: Christopher Hill) They raised funds in school through splash the teacher to purchase five decks of UNO cards and eighteen cardholders. RotaKid Isla Mason, aged eight, said: “We wanted to do something to bring joy to people in the local community and since Covid, we realised that the care home hadn’t been receiving as many visitors as before so we all discussed what we could do in a meeting, and we came up with the idea of teaching them how to play UNO.” The group walked to the care home from their school, in a bid to be more ecologically aware and reduce the impact on the environ.