Case Study: Extra Time: Generation Games
Project Location: Port Vale Football Club, Bradley Retirement Village and Haywood
Learning Centre.
Partner organisations/groups: Federation of Stadium Communities (FSC), Age Concern
North Staffs, Bradley Retirement Village, Haywood Engineering College, Port Vale
Football Club (PVFC) and Haywood Learning Centre (HLC).
Date of case study: 22/07/09
Contact details of lead organisation
Name: Chris Lawley
Organisation: Federation of Stadium Communities
Role within project: Project Manager
Telephone number: 01782 831900
Email: chris.lawley@stadiumcommunities.org.uk
Previous experience
Was the work based on any previous experience of involvement in IP of lead
organisation or partners? If so, what type of IP work was it?
As part of FSC’s ‘Reaching the Community’ programme, different means of community
engagement were tested, beginning with a one day intergenerational event at Port Vale in
2005. This event involved an older people’s group taking a group of pupils from Haywood
High School through a typical armchair exercise routine, plus a session where pupils and
older people joined with ex professionals from Port Vale to look at pictures and newspaper
articles from the 1950s. The two generations compared football today to that of the 50’s.
The day proved to be a success, with both the young and older people seeing and
experiencing the benefits of regular exercise and sharing stories about football now and in
the past. Comments included: “It was brilliant, great being with the young pupils from the
school.”
From this event, FSC developed ‘Extra Time’, a programme delivered through 6 to 8 week
sessions at Port Vale, Shrewsbury FC and AFC Telford. Feedback from each project has
been used to continually improve the initiative.
About the project:
Aims and Objectives
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To develop positive relationships between generations by bringing older and
younger people together to share stories, experiences and memories around
common interests while taking part in mutually beneficial learning activities;
To break down older people’s negative perceptions of young people, and vice
versa;
To address the isolation of older people by promoting/ creating volunteering and
learning opportunities and fostering relationships with other communities in the
area;
To increase the academic achievement of young people, using their interest in sport
to inspire and motivate them;
© Beth Johnson Foundation 2009
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To break down negative perceptions of the Football Club, by showing participants
the human side of the club as well as giving them access to facilities not normally
open to the public;
To introduce older people to digital photography, audio and video equipment, as
well as ICT and digital editing;
To help the students develop skills in reminiscence, interviewing, digital
photography, design and audio and video production;
To build better relationships between the club and the community by encouraging
participants to share memories and stories about the club, its characters and
relationship with the neighbourhood;
To promote further volunteering for the students and more learning activities for the
older people from Bradley Retirement Village;
To support students in the production of a DVD that can be submitted as part of
their GCSE Media Studies course work.
Context and Evidence of need An initial taster session was carried out at Port Vale FC to
determine the demand for the projects and the needs of participants.
Description
Extra Time: Generation Games is an intergenerational reminiscence project developed by
the FSC as a means of engaging with traditionally ‘hard to reach’ learners. In particular, it
targeted older men by using their interest in sport/ football and the Club ‘badge’ to
encourage their involvement. The project focused on the sharing of experiences of ‘Play,
Games and Sport’ across generations.
A project steering group was set up to enable partner organisations and participant groups
to have input into the structure and content of the project. 8 weekly sessions, each lasting
between 2 and 4 hours, took place at Port Vale FC (PVFC), Bradley Retirement Village
(BRV) and Haywood Learning Centre (HLC) between April and July 2008. Transport, light
refreshments and lunch (for the longer sessions) were provided for all participants.
Sessions:
1: Introduction and Stadium Tour at PVFC
2: Reminiscence at BRV
3: Interviewing Staff & Players at PVFC
4: Activity Day at PVFC
5: Editing at HLC
6: Editing at HLC
7: Designing DVD Box Cover at HLC
8: Evaluation, Celebration & DVD Screening at PVFC
The sessions were delivered by FSC, Age Concern and Haywood Learning Centre staff,
with support from Learning Mentors and Teachers from Haywood Engineering College.
Participants shared their skills and expertise in using digital video cameras, desk top
publishing software and video interviewing, as well as taking part in various reminiscence
activities. The participants filmed each of the project sessions, edited the material
together, and designed the DVD box cover.
The work was presented in a DVD and screened at a celebration event at PVFC in July
2008. Everyone who took part received a copy of the DVD and a non-accredited Extra
© Beth Johnson Foundation 2009
Time Certificate of Achievement. PVFC also gave participants vouchers which could be
redeemed for two free tickets to the first Port Vale home game of the new season.
Start and end date for the project? The project ran between April and July 2008
How was the project funded? The project was funded by Staffordshire County Council.
Was the project evaluated? If so, how? The project was externally evaluated by BJF.
What worked, what didn’t work, and what’s the evidence?
Overall most of the participants enjoyed the project and would not change anything,
although the young people wanted to change the making of the DVD. This would need to
be explored further to find specific problem areas. The older people would have liked more
interaction with the young people and the school, more games and opportunities to talk.
Everyone agreed that there had been enough time to complete the project.
The best aspects of the project were meeting and finding out about the different
generations and finding they had a shared sense of humour. Other outcomes were
developing skills, the activity day at Port Vale, and getting out of school!
The overall consensus was that the whole project was enjoyable and nothing needs to be
done differently. One group said that they would “try a bit harder to bring the best out of
everyone - it may be hard but would be worth it.”
What changed as a result of the work and what’s the evidence?
The older people felt that there wasn’t a lot of difference between themselves when they
were younger and the young people on the project. They were also surprised that the
young people were respectful and not as out-going as they had thought they would be.
The young people said that they had learned about games that used to be played and how
older people spent their spare time and what activities they did.
All but one person said that their ideas about the other generation had changed. The
younger people had more respect for the older generation and that they were better and
less boring than they thought. The older people were pleasantly surprised that the young
people listened and were nice and polite. One comment was: “By being together we get to
know each other and not what we read in the newspapers”.
Has the project proved to be sustainable?
The relationships with partnership organisations formed during the development of the
Generation Games project has continued to grow, allowing the expansion into new and
innovative projects, including:
 Port Vale Tales heritage project
 Haywood ‘Grow, Cook and Eat’ project.
Work is underway to develop a programme of Stadium Legends intergenerational projects
in Cluster 1 schools in Stoke-on-Trent.
© Beth Johnson Foundation 2009
What would be done differently in the future?
Following some confusion during the project regarding the roles and responsibilities of
partner organisations, the FSC has developed a comprehensive partnership agreement
which is now used for all intergenerational projects.
About the people
Who were they? What were the age ranges?
15 students (Year 10, aged 14 to 15) from Haywood Engineering College;
12 senior citizens from Bradley Retirement Village and Age Concern Staffordshire.
How were they recruited?
Participants were recruited via the partner organisations.
Project outputs
Were there any resources or materials produced as a result of the project?
The work was presented in a DVD, which was screened at a celebration event at Port
Vale FC in July 2008 and was also to be submitted, along with the DVD box cover, as part
of the students’ coursework for GCSE Media Studies.
Development
Are any other Inter-generational activities being delivered or planned as a result of
the project?
Further intergenerational work is currently being planned under the banner of ‘Stadium
Legends’ in Birmingham, Coventry, Wolverhampton, Liverpool, Colchester, and Southendon-Sea.
The project in Birmingham is being developed in partnership with the FSC and the Stroke
Association. The introduction of the FSC and Stroke Association was made at a regional
meeting of the Centre for Intergenerational Practice.
© Beth Johnson Foundation 2009