AN INTERGENERATIONAL project has seen people living with dementia and schoolchildren collaborate to decorate a club building.

Chrysalis Club Tynedale, which has a base in Hexham but also runs sessions in Wylam, has been working with Chollerton C of E First School to improve the club's premises on Dene Park.

The club offers activity sessions for people with dementia, as well as carer support groups and trips.

Members and pupils jointly prepared plant arrangements and made pottery butterflies to adorn the exterior of the building after funding from If Only.

Hexham Courant:

"The aim of the project is that they start communicating with each other and learning a little bit about each other", said Chrysalis Club chair Rosie Robson-Tinsley.

"For people with dementia, they love to see the children; the members' faces light up when the children come into the building.

"And they're lovely children; they've all been very well behaved and listened to what we've told them."

Pupils were matched with a member for sessions and learnt about one another.

Club representatives visited the school before the project began to explain to the children about dementia. 

"They all listened intentively and had very interesting questions to ask", added Rosie. "The children all look after each other and are very respectful. They're really enthusiastic, full of energy and life."

The pupils visited Chrysalis once a week to complete their work. 

Teacher Ms Sharon Nichols added: "The children thoroughly enjoyed visiting their new friends each week and enthuse about what they have been doing to their teachers and parents.

"They interact with ease and it's delightful to see the faces of both the children and the members of Chrysalis who both benefit."

The children were all presented with certificates at a small ceremony with tea and cake attended by volunteers and carers.

They were also given an invitation to an open day in August, where they will show family members and friends their efforts.

The club, which is accepting new members, also runs projects supporting bereaved carers or those whose relation or friend is now in residential care, as well as all-day sessions for regular members.

Rosie added: "Having our premises has been amazing, it's just given us a real place on the map. 

"There will be people out there struggling who would really have some fun at Chrysalis. A lot of people think 'we're not ready for that', but actually, the sooner they come, the better the person with dementia settles in and they can keep going for quite a lot longer."