November 2012

On Friday 16th November I took two young people from our LB+ programme, Deshaye and Shaun to meet couples Joan and Bert and Jean and Doug. After a hetic start (the recording equipment would not work) Deshaye and Shaun settled in to listen to a collection of stories and memories. Bert told of his 13 year wait to become a docker and Doug told us of “bopping the foreman on the nose”!

Sitting in Joan’s front room observing the group and listening to the laughter I realised I was not watching young people talking to older people, I was watching people, having a conversation and connecting.

From Docks to Desktops is an intergeneratonal project bringing people of different ages together. Not to discuss their differences (how things were different in the good old days) but conversing without the labels and preconceptions. Deshaye, Shaun, Joan, Bert, Jean and Doug were just people sharing their stories with each other and that is what’s important.