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Wednesday’s Voices

At the tail-end of last year, Arts for Health participants at Clonakilty Day Care Centre and Transition Year students from Sacred Heart Secondary School, Clonakilty, worked with composer and musician Justin Grounds on an intergenerational music and poetry project.

Over the weeks, the day care clients and students took turns learning from each other. At first, the older people taught the TY students different songs and dances. By the end of the first day, the students were up dancing ‘The Siege of Ennis’! As the intergenerational project continued, the group spoke about and sang songs that span generations, including ‘Father and Son’ by Cat Stevens. One student brought her ukulele to play along.

During one session Justin handed out sheets of paper. ‘Advice from my older self to my younger self’ was written on one side, ‘Advice from my younger self to my older sef’ on the other. Almost immediately, the whole group were busily writing, laughing, and chatting. The following week, they read out the advice anonymously, and chatted about life and ways to live.

Justin said of the project, ‘I like the idea that we contain multitudes within us, and the different parts of our personality can aid and inform the others. I also didn’t want anyone to feel pressure to impart advice on anyone else but their own self. The response was really wonderful.’

Justin collated the group’s favourite lines into a poem. He typed it up on his old type writer, and handed everyone a copy during the final session.

‘People were delighted, not just from the poem, but from knowing that I have a typewriter!’

 

 

https://www.westcorkartscentre.com/