“Oh, How Things Have Changed!”

The Firs Residential Home in Budleigh Salterton has introduced The Firs’ Generation Exchange, an opportunity for the youngsters in the community and the Firs’ residents to exchange information, ideas and life experiences spanning the generations. Booklets have been produced for the residents which contain questions on each page which residents and children both answer. An example could be, “What games did you play at school?”. Children from St Peter’s School Budleigh visited the Firs last Tuesday and spent the day with the residents working on the booklets together.

The questions spanned the everyday mundane aspects of life, to holidays, parents, jobs and everything in between. Manager of The Firs, Nikki Shayler, said, “The residents and pupils agreed that it was a real eye-opener seeing how things have changed socially and economically over the years. The residents absolutely loved it and so did the kids! It’s also so lovely for the residents to form this connection with a different generation in the community.”

Next time the residents will be visiting the school to complete part 2 of The Firs’ Generation Exchange project.