Barry care home and primary school pen pal scheme is the write way to wellbeing

The postman at Springbank Care Home, in College Road, delivers letters from Jenner Park Primary School pupils soon after morning ‘meds’.

Nonagenarian Margaret Thomas worked as an infants’ school teacher and is one of the first in the letter retrieval queue.

Mum-of-two Mrs Thomas, who has dementia, was one of the first putting pen to paper when the home introduced a letter exchange scheme as part of its wellbeing programme.

The Springbank project has been praised by Care Forum Wales which represents hundreds of independent social care providers.

Springbank is on the former Barry teacher training college site where Mrs Thomas studied from 1942 to 1945, before teaching 60 infants in a Birmingham school.

Her daughter Rhian Thomas, of Barry, said: “Mam had a wonderful career in teaching and still talks about her days training in Barry when the student teachers would run into the kitchen to make sandwiches. First there had jam, the others had to make do with Marmite.

“She suffered a stroke in 2012 and was diagnosed with dementia last year, but she remembers a lot about the past and helping children to write their first words.

“When the letter exchange was started she was first to have one in the post. She wrote to a little boy telling him she been a teacher a ‘very long time ago’ and encouraged him to keep on writing.

“Her eyesight isn’t the best anymore and she misses doing her crochet work. You can tell the letter exchange has given her a new lease of life. She looks forward to what the children have to say.”

Ms Thomas, 59, a Glamorgan Voluntary Services project leader, added: “Back in mam’s day, children used chalk and slate in school and their handwriting was tested. It’s wonderful to see the home and school encourage the craft of writing. It definitely gets mam’s seal of approval.”

Ten residents are now involved in penning letters to children in Years 3 and 4. In their last correspondence they asked pupils about their favourite things. Replies came with brightly-coloured pictures of houses, food, toys and pets.

Thomas, seven, said he was easy to please. “I like everything I do, see and eat!” he wrote.

The response came with a picture him enjoying his favourite activity – sitting in a Barry Island deck chair.

There is a steady flow of letters between the school which is 15 minutes’ walk away from the home. They are laminated and displayed in the tea room.

Springbank operations manager, Alex Kelleher, said: “We are keen to introduce projects and activities that are inter-generational and connect the old with the young.

“Many of our residents have dementia and it is hard to know ‘where’ they are in their minds but we can see how happy they are when the school choir visits. They love meeting the children and joining in with their songs.

“We wanted to develop this community connection further and had the idea of writing letters to children at Jenner Park Primary.

“Margaret was keen to be involved. She loves talking to people but is sometimes a little troubled and confused. The letters do seem to bring joy and fulfilment not only to Margaret, but all involved. They certainly put a smile on faces.”

The pupils aged seven to nine know their pen pals by first name and when the school choir performed a Christmas concert at the home, they were keen to say hello and put a face to the name.

Years 3 and 4 teacher Laura Johnson said: “Pupils wrote introductory letters, telling residents about themselves. Then they sent Christmas letters and will follow up with more after the holidays.

“It’s not only helping with their literacy skills but also in developing empathy for people in their older years.

“Some residents have quite wobbly handwriting and this has generated discussion about what can happen in old age and how we must care for the aged sector of our community.

“Empathy isn’t a subject in the curriculum but a life-long skill we are delighted to help the children develop.”