The intergenerational adventure has begun!
A quick blog about my plans for the next few months as I set off on my Churchill Fellowship to learn from people building bridges between generations in Europe and beyond. And a call out for recommendations for things to listen to and read related to intergenerational work.
I am feeling pretty excited, a little daunted and very lucky.
Over the next few months I’ve paused my ‘normal’ work as a consultant, trustee and volunteer and I’ve hit the open road — well actually the open railway tracks. I’m on a mission to meet and learn from the people, places and groups who are building bridges between people of different generations across Europe and beyond. Stretching across the arts, culture, education, sports, housing agriculture and beyond, I’m interested in finding out more about the shared everyday experiences that are a gateway to closer, life-giving, powerful and generative relationships between people of different generations. And I’m particularly (but not only!) interested in what works in rural places. You can read more about why I’m doing this in this blog.
In a bid to immerse myself in all things intergenerational, I’m inter-railing across Europe whilst also connecting with people around the world via the wonders of the internet and having lots of time to read and listen to things as I go.
I’d love your recommendations for things to listen to and read related to intergenerational work
From single episodes of podcasts or a quick blog, to PhDs and whole books, I’d love your recommendations (and don’t assume I’ve read something already!). So far a sample of what I’ve got stored up: the podcast 70 Over 70, Ellen Scott from Stylist Magazine’s recent interview about generational discord in the workplace, various bits and pieces from Bessel Van Der Kolk, Esther Perel and others on intergenerational trauma and much more. I name check a few of the thinkers and doers who have inspired my work in this area to date in this blog. And the end of this I will pay the favour forwards by sharing a reading / listening list as part of the wrap up of the fellowship.
My rough plan
Armed with an inter-rail pass and some patchy language skills (thanks Duolingo) my route is roughly as follows
- Sicily: 1st — 24th April
- Florence: 25th — 30th April
- Bologna: 30th April — 4th May
- Padua: 4th — 8th May
- Vienna: 8th — 15th May
- Heidelberg: mid May
- Cologne: mid May
- Tbc — how do I get home!? Via Amsterdam? Via Paris?
As I go I’m excited to learn about intergenerational projects of all sizes and seeing stuff in action. Here’s a tantalising sample of a few things I’m hoping to learn from:
- The Good Kitchen (founded by Danny McCubbin) in Mussomeli, Sicily
- The Moltivolti project in Palermo, Sicily
- Wohnbuddy, Austria
- The Diakonische Hausgemeinschaften housing project in Heidelberg, Germany
- At the same time as connecting with people all around the world — as far flung as Bulgaria, the US, Norway, Sweden and Uganda.
A key piece of advice from previous Churchill Fellows was to resist the temptation to pack the agenda as it means you miss the chance for serendipitous connections and interesting segues. So if you have ideas, friends or contacts to throw at me, I’d love to hear them!
I’m also excited to be joined for the Austrian leg of the trip by Hadeel Elshak who is a community organiser for Citizens UK as well as being a close pal of mine and a different generation to me.
When I return home I’ll be pottering around the UK too, visiting old friends and new ones — from the Onion Collective in Somerset to Ready Generations in Liverpool.
And at the end of it I will hopefully have some useful, interesting and practical things to share back (I don’t yet know how, but it definitely won’t be a long boring pdf report that only my loyal parents would summon the courage to read!)
I’ll finish with a reminder of 3 questions I’ve asked before:
- Do you know folks who are working to bridge generational divides — especially (but not only!) across Italy, Austria and Germany?
- Do you bridge generational divides? Even if I’m not (currently) visiting your place, I’d love to meet virtually.
- Do you fancy grabbing lunch, going for a walk or just having a chat about anything we have in common — I’m interested loads of things including in the health of civil society, how we attend to endings in nonprofits, and walking in beautiful places (you can find out a bit more about me on my website here).
Finally, if you fancy, you can follow along with me via Twitter, Instagram and (a bit more sporadically) right here on Medium.