SEN Project at The Courtyard

The Courtyard Centre for The Arts in Hereford has a range of creative activities specifically aimed at older people.
The Creative Ageing Project at The Courtyard has been running for over six years and in that time activities have ranged from stand-up comedy workshops, to inter-generational poetry projects and to the incredibly popular choir The Garrick Singers, which is run in conjunction with The Music Pool.

The latest project, Creative Community Champions, is a new programme for people with a passion for craft based activities. This community mentoring scheme provides free training and tool-kits for loan by community groups who want to try something different.

The Courtyard was also the first dementia friendly arts centre in the UK and offers a wide range of arts events for people living with dementia. These workshops include Find Your Feet dance class, Drumming Together and dementia friendly film screenings designed to make the cinema experience more accessible for people with cognition or physical impairments.
Penny Allen, Adult Participation Manager, says: “Here at Creative Ageing we know that retirement now can last over 40 years and we provide arts experiences that are as creative, diverse and interesting as the people we work with. We believe that age shouldn’t be a barrier to taking part in something new. Often when people retire, you can risk losing a big chunk of your social life that comes with working. We try and encourage people to come and meet lots of other likeminded people by taking part in one of our many projects or classes.”

The Creative Ageing Project is funded by The Big Lottery Reaching Communities Fund. For more information about The Courtyard’s Creative Ageing Programme contact the Box Office on 01432 340555 or visit creativeageing.co.uk