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Very young and very old come together to enjoy each other’s company in run up to Remembrance Day.

Residents at Broadleigh Care Home were delighted to welcome a group of children from a nearby nursery for lunch and activities.

The group of seven children – who are aged from 2-to-4-years-old – popped round to the care home from Broadway Nursery to take part in poppy-themed crafting activities and feast on an array of party food and refreshments.

Activities coordinator Lisa Birchmore described the visit on November 10 as “a day I’ll remember forever”.

Residents quickly became attached to their friendly young visitors.

She said: “It was just so nice to see how they interacted - it was like they’d [all] known each other for ages.”

Lisa told the Peterborough Telegraph what the mix of generations got up to:

“The residents and the children sat at the table and made poppies,” adding, ”the children were actually showing the residents how to make the poppies.”

“They [also] did a sing-song which the residents joined in with, which went down very well.”

Such firm friendships were made throughout the day that both the care home and the nursery are keen to arrange more visits.

The 47-year-old activities coordinator said the idea for inviting nursery children into the care home was inspired by a documentary she had seen on TV.

She said the programme had shown her that having pre-school children around “helped the residents… took them back to their childhood. It changed their mindset and made them more active.”

Evidently, Lisa’s idea had a visceral and lasting impact on the residents:

“Some of them didn’t want the children to go,” she said: “one resident got quite emotional.”

Activities coordinator Lisa Birchmore said: “It was just so nice to see how they interacted - it was like they’d [all] known each other for ages.”

“He lost his wife about three weeks ago; to see him interact – he was singing and smiling – was just the icing on the cake.”

And it wasn’t just the residents who who felt moved by the day’s events:

Lisa explained: “The nursery rang me this morning and said what an impact it’d had on the children.

“So we’re going to try and make it a regular once-a-week activity for them both.

“They’re coming back next Monday.”

Lisa said she felt “quite proud” to have helped organise the day. “The smiles, the laughter, the engagement – between the residents and the children – was absolutely amazing.

“I will remember it forever.”

Nursery children join care home residents for day of ‘amazing’ poppy-themed activities