When I first offered to go there I agreed to help out with giving out tea and lunch, helping with the quizzes and activities, and generally talking to the people and keeping them occupied. I also had to make sure that none of the old people escaped when they weren’t supposed to. Knowing that I was there to check for anyone walking out the door helped the lead volunteer to concentrate on more important things. I think I made a big impact on the people there as not many younger people had worked there before, and it made a great change of conversation.
I started in the morning by making the lunches with the cook. I think the cook appreciated this because it meant the cook had more hands to help her, so she did not have to rush as much, and therefore could make the lunches to a higher standard. I think the old people really enjoyed their lunch and were grateful for my helping out as I helped to hand out their lunches quickly, and poured drinks for them. A lot of the time they would start to get up to get their lunches, but with me there it meant they didn’t have to try and get up, which I think they appreciated as some of them can be in a lot of pain.
After lunch I planned a quiz with them. The quiz had different pictures of celebrity duos and they had to remember who the celebrities were. They passed round the sheets and had to write them down. At the end the person who won the quiz got a box of chocolates. I think it helped keep the old peoples’ memories active. They taught me a lot about the older celebrity pairs, and politicians, and I taught them a lot about the newer ones such as Ant and Dec! I think my quiz was a success because they all joined in, and all did very well in it, and seemed to enjoy it. I encouraged other people to join in the quiz, as I went round and talked to them and gave them clues. I think my planning of this activity was very good, as I took the time to stick pictures of the celebrities on sheets of paper to be passed around, and had them numbered. I then called out the answers and got them to swap their answers and mark each others.
I had to collect in money for various trips and the old people’s tea, and then had to give out the tea and biscuits. I felt grateful that everyone trusted me with the money, and it was another small task that I could take off the volunteers’ hands.
I think overall I made a great impact on the people there while I was there. I think I was a fresh face, and just talking to people alone taught me a lot about the older generation, and I think I changed the stereotype they had of young people.