Horsham community project will help older people cope with effects of Covid

The organisation, which delivers community arts programmes across Sussex and Surrey, is delighted to have secured money from Horsham District Council Community Fund (£1,000) and NET Corona Virus Fund at Sussex Community Foundation (£3,623).

Founders Annalees Lim and Luna Russell will use the funding to enable the company to deliver an interactive arts programme, developed particularly for people whose mental health and well-being have been impacted by the ongoing effects of Covid-19.

Luna said: “We will be developing a series of audio talks that engage directly with 15 older people across Horsham District, many with visual impairment, currently unable to attend social groups.

“We know how difficult it has been for people who are currently not interacting with their friends and we wanted to develop a programme of activities that would enable them to engage creatively when they are at home.”

“Over a series of five episodes, Whistlestop Talks will explore the countryside and places of cultural interest, hearing from special guests along the way. Each episode will have an accompanying craft activity for participants to take part in at home.

“The series includes visits to venues such as Horsham Museum, Sussex Wild-life Trust headquarters at Woods Mill and The Capitol Horsham where we’ll hear all about the production of A Christmas Carol that is to staged there in December.”

Annalees added: “The aim of this project is to encourage people to keep engaging in creative activities. We hope that by listening to the talks they will feel like their regular group is continuing and have the opportunity to chat with their friends on the phone about the interesting places that they are all visiting virtually.”

Annalees and Luna will deliver the talks on a USB stick, along with a sound player and craft materials, directly to the 15 participants in the Horsham area, where they hope to have doorstep conversations about each episode and to share the creations they have made. During the November lockdown however, they will send all items in the post and have a chat with the participants on the phone.

Luna said: “There are so many places of cultural interest throughout Sussex, and we hope that this project is the start of something bigger. We have been out to deliver the first episode and it was incredibly moving to chat with the participants and to hear how difficult the last few months have been for them. They were so pleased to have a new project to take part in. One person we spoke to was planning to do the craft activity with her grandchildren via Skype, whilst catching up on all their news. It’s such a great idea to do something creative together, even if you can’t be in the same room.

“We are also working in partnership with Age UK West Sussex, Brighton & Hove. Their development manager Stacey Cullen has been incredibly supportive of the project and will be delivering our resources out to a number of Horsham District residents. We know that there are many people living alone or who are in residential care and we would love for family and carers to engage with the Talks project and create the crafts together.”

The Whistlestop Talks are available for anyone to listen to, free of charge, on the website www.whistlestoparts.org. New episodes and their related craft activity will be uploaded regularly to the website over the next few months. If you are interested in finding out more, email [email protected].