CRAFT sessions overseen by an Oxford Brookes student have helped to bridge the generation gap between young and old.

Pupils at Tyndale Community School in Cowley have united with elderly residents at St John's Home in East Oxford, for creative activities run by PhD researcher Jonida Murataj.

The architecture student is running the project, called Together for the Community, with cash from a university fund set aside to support extra-curricular work that benefits others.

Mrs Murataj said: “The project aims to bring together children and the elderly to develop new ways of engaging both generations.

“Children are given the opportunity to recognise the contribution that older people have made and still make in their family and community.

“The themes of the workshops focus on expressing feelings and allowing the imagination to thrive using different craft activities including painting, knitting, dancing, and art.”

The scheme is completely separate to her course and she said she was inspired partly by her studies, as community integration is part of architecture, and partly by her late grandparents.

Final year student Mrs Murataj added: “I wanted [to design] a that project would have a long-lasting impact, and I’ve always thought about people that age being isolated."

The first workshop took place at the end of April using paints and materials to create a collage.

A second was held this month and specifically focused on music and dance, in which care home residents shared memories of songs they listened to throughout their lives and learnt about modern music.

Mother-of-one Mrs Murataj said: “They loved it. I selected music from the 1950s onwards and some of the residents started to cry – it was very emotional.

“The kids also really enjoyed it, bouncing around all the time.”

A third is due to take place in July depending on the busy end-of-school-year schedule.

The sessions built on an existing connection between the primary school in William Morris Close and the home in Magdalen Road, as pupils had visited residents to read stories and attend the centre’s annual summer fair.

Among benefits of the scheme, Mrs Murataj said, were pupils learning practical skills and how to interact with older people, and recognise that they are ‘just like us’ but have lived for longer.

She added: “I was afraid it might be difficult to work with the two different age groups but it has been amazing.

“I think they should be more involved, especially for kids who haven’t got any grandparents or know anyone that age.”

She said she hoped work created during the sessions could be given to the care home for display in their day room, or sold to raise money for the home.