Scottish Government Minister Visits Award-Winning East Lothian Intergenerational Community Project

The Compass School, Haddington were delighted to welcome the Scottish Government’s Minister for Equalities, Kaukab Stewart, to visit one of their intergenerational sessions with our friends from Our Community Kitchen.

The Compass School Said:

With both organisations having recently been jointly awarded a national Excellence Award for Confronting Age Discrimination and Stereotypes, the Minister was keen to attend one of our intergenerational sessions and to learn more about the incredible relationships which have developed during the past two years between young people and their older friends through our Growing Friendships project.

The Minister involved herself fully in the session which saw participants looking at jobs, careers and the hopes and aspirations of all involved and she greatly enjoyed meeting and spending time with our Primary 7 children and their friends from Our Community Kitchen.

We were also joined by Alison Clyde, the Chief Executive of Generations Working Together (the umbrella body for many of the intergenerational projects in Scotland) and also by Elaine Gale, founder and manager of OCK, along with her colleague and our fellow project co-ordinator at OCK, Joyce Lukkes.

Headmaster, Mr Mark Becher, said: 

“We were honoured to receive a visit from the Minister For Equalities and it gave a great opportunity for Our Community Kitchen and ourselves to showcase our award-winning project and let the Minister see first-hand how rich and positive are the experiences of our children and their older friends from Our Community Kitchen when they come together for our intergenerational sessions. Ms. Stewart was keen to understand how the project has evolved and to discover more about the countless benefits it has brought to all who have been involved.

What a great morning we all had together and as we discussed and shared our ideas, hopes and aspirations, with lots of fun and laughter key features of the morning!”