Have A Pen And A Pal – Join Us !

We are happy to help promote  Quilters Junior Schools Pen Pal project in meeting the challenge of dementia.

Maureen Lee, Dementia Friends Champion for both our RotaKids Schools (Quilters and Buttsbury) explains:

I am a regular volunteer at Quilters Junior School and I have recently stepped  in as Chair of the Billericay Dementia  Action Alliance.  At Quilters Junior School  the children aged between 7 and 11 have begun a whole school project by writing to “older” Pen Pals since last Autumn - as inviting people to the school and making visits was not possible because of Covid.  This seemed a promising alternative.

Garden Tea Party

The response from the children and their Pen Pals has been fantastic and given everyone a bit of joy by the letters back and forth.  Looking ahead, we can now plan some more personal activity.  We will be taking some Quilters children to Anisha Grange in June for a garden tea party/musical afternoon and also hope to host a tea party at the school for Pen Pals from the local community. 

She asks, "Might Rotary be able to support the tea party initiatives with some funding for transport to take the children to the care home?  Might it also be able to support the school-based tea party with some funding for refreshments?  Covid regulations don’t allow us to bake cakes so we need to buy them.
It would be fantastic if Rotary could be involved in some ways in these great intergenerational activities that are adding something special to the community."

The Rotary Club of Billericay is proud that it is able to step in and donate up to £200 for these two initiatives.

A Fantastic Intergenerational Project

Maureen says:  “We are hoping that more local “older” people will like the idea of receiving letters and will commit to writing a reply, short or long, with help from family, or friends if they prefer. The children will be so excited and grateful for your replies..”
The Steps:
State whether you’d like the children to write to you by your first name or Miss/Ms/Mrs etc
The children will not know your address – just name only. Staff then address the letters and arrange delivery to you.
The children will not reveal their surname or address – letters returned to the school.
All letters received and read by staff and then passed to the children
Children will write every couple of months in hope of replies.
“This is a fantastic inter-generational project which brings joy to all involved”, adds Maureen.  “Thank you for your interest.”