There are few things that bridge the gap of separation like a letter written just for you and some Silverdale students have been brightening up the days of the residents of a Preston care home by doing just that.

Miss Hendricks, one of our student teachers, devised and organised a letter writing project* to connect students with residents of the home that her friend's grandmother owns. The project was set before the Easter holidays and to date the residents have enjoyed 23 letters from our students. The students introduce themselves, talk about how they are managing the lockdown and ask the recipients about their lives, how they stop getting bored and, in view of their life experience, if they have any advice for them.

Sadly, the care home has been one of those very badly affected by the coronavirus. Miss Hendricks reports that the letters came as very welcome ray of light to the staff and residents there, and that several are planning to strike up a correspondence. Hopefully it is something that might continue beyond current events and keep the art of letter-writing alive, as well as building bonds across the generations.

*Each letter is individual but they have been anonymised and all correspondence goes via Silverdale for data protection purposes.