Elders Leaders

We are delighted to introduce you to this year’s Elders Leaders 23/24.

The project We’ll Be In Touch, paired Elders Leaders with Together Dementia Support members. Leaders telephoned their partner once a week for a month. During each call, the Leaders shared a piece of text (a poem, song lyric or verse from Shakespeare), invited a conversation about it and then posed a series of questions which led to the creation of a brand new poem.

We’ll Be In Touch was developed in response to the pandemic. The project began in January 2021 following a partnership between the Royal Exchange Theatre and Together Dementia Support, supported by Small Things. There have since been a further three rounds of the project involving 25 participants from Together Dementia Support and 16 Elders Leaders.

We’ll Be In Touch has so far led to the creation of a poetry anthology, a podcast and a short documentary film . However, due to the pandemic restrictions, no one had managed to meet in person until now. Further rounds of We’ll Be In Touch are planned throughout 2023 for older people at risk of loneliness and isolation.