Woodworking & Bricklaying : Older & Younger Neighbours Learning the Tricks of the Trade

Please note: this post is 88 months old and The Cares Family is no longer operational. This post is shared for information only

Over the year, younger and older neighbours, aged from 21 to 95, have been hanging out, getting to grips with new skills, and finding out that it’s never too late to try something new.

In May and June, Pat, Angela and the gang got out the drills, saws and chisels at our two DIY Clubs at Brixton Remakery, crafting wooden plant pots and candlestick holders. For some of our older neighbours, it was an opportunity to get creative in a unique way. Pat, 79, said that she’d never had the chance to do anything like this, with the men in her family always the ones to take care of anything DIY.  Frances told us that in all of her 96 years, she’d “never held a saw before, let alone used it”. 

Working in teams together, the group had a laugh sawing away and helping each other learn. As is always the case with every social club, the real highlight was hanging out and getting to know each other. DIY Club was Bola’s first social club and for her, getting stuck in, covered in sawdust, and meeting new people was the best introduction to SLC she could have hoped for—“I feel great—I’m learning new skills and meeting such lovely people!”.

In August, in Clapham, the gang got together again and swapped screwdrivers for trowels. They got to grips with brick blocks, learning how to lay a brick wall with a professional builder from Appreciate Pete. As well as another opportunity to do something completely out of the ordinary, Pete shared with the budding brickylayers how to keep an eye out for cowboy builders, and how to spot the common signs of a rip off.

Social clubs like these can provide something exciting and different to look forward to for our older neighbours – filling days that might otherwise be empty with new skills and new mates. Whether it’s bricklaying, boxing, or tech workshops, we have a social club happening most days. As Tony put it at the Bricklaying Club, “I’m doing more now than when I was working. Now I’m doing things that I’ve always loved but never got the chance to do.”

Our older neighbours are always excited to get stuck in and try new things, but clubs like these aren’t possible without the skills and help from local organisations and volunteers. If you have a skills or a venue you could share with your older neighbours, please get in touch with [email protected].