On the upper level of Middlefields House is the Winter Garden. A light and airy space where ‘family members’ (those who live with us) can settle in a comfy chair to meet visitors or gather together, today the Winter Garden is furnished with an array of colourful additions to help welcome in the very youngest of visitors. An orang-utan dangles beneath the blossoms of the artificial tree, puppets perch along the planter, a pool filled with coloured plastic balls beckons. At 10.30am the first pushchair arrives and from here on in joyful chaos erupts. Those plastic balls don’t stay in the pool for long.

The Roots and Wings intergenerational playgroup is now firmly established in the life our care home. Taking place every Wednesday, it runs all year round including through the holidays when older siblings are welcome to join.

The name carries with it a sense of mutual growth and flourishing. At Pilgrims’ Friend Society, we see our care homes as places of connection with the local community, where older people can enjoy relationship with those who are younger and those who are younger reap the rewards of being around those who are older.

This wonderful symbiosis plays out between Vivien, 79, and a young boy wearing a tomatored t-shirt. Willingly, Vivien holds up a large Velcro dart board while the boy hurls ball after ball towards it. Once the supply is exhausted, he goes back to retrieve them, and the fun begins again. And again. And again.

Herself a mother-of-four, Vivien delights in being around children. “I love the way they like to copy, and how they like to know that they can do it,” she says. “That little boy was really pleased with himself.”

Jo, our The Way We Care Lead at Middlefields House, oversees the intergenerational playgroup. “It’s so good for our family members,” she says. “You see their eyes light up. Many of them have been teachers or missionaries and worked closely with children. Others don’t have grandchildren who live close by. Interacting with children is of such value to them. For the children as well, it’s important. They receive encouragement and get used to being around different older people, including those who are living with dementia. As our older population grows, that can only be a good thing.”

One lovely to connection to grow is between Stephanie, 28, her two children Elias, three, Phoebe, 18 months, and our family member Jillian, 90. “I moved to Chippenham recently from Bournemouth and when I came to the playgroup I realised I knew Jillian a little bit as she’d been in our church,” says Stephanie. “The relationship has deepened since we’ve got here. The children love being around Jill because she’s such a fun adult. Elias will present her with a toy dinosaur and she’ll take it and roar back to him. The other week they dressed her up as a princess and gave her a crown to wear. She’s game for anything.”

For Jillian, a former infant teacher, the group is a highlight of her week. “It is lovely watching the children learning to play together, enjoying the company of each other, and learning how to mix and share.”

The babies in the group bring an especial joy. One of the very youngest visitors is fourmonth-old Dontae. His mum Deanne used to work as a housekeeper at Middlefields House and his grandma Tina works in the laundry. “Our family members have known since he was a dot,” says Jo. “I can remember one family member, Joan, would ask after his mum all through the pregnancy. For Joan and others, seeing him week after week for the playgroup is wonderful. In fact, they love cuddling him so much they start crying!”

Even family members who don’t come to the playgroup benefit from some baby cuddling time. With Dontae so regularly in the building, after the group Jo or Tina will often take him round for a cuddle with family members who are in their rooms.

“The connections that come from the playgroup are not just straight-line connections, it’s more of a web of connections,” reflects Jo.

Indeed, for the parents (mainly mums) and childminders who bring children it’s an opportunity to gain pearls of wisdom from a whole host of ‘grandparents’.

“A mum may mention that their little one isn’t sleeping and a family member can chip in and say, ‘don’t worry that’s quite normal’,” says Jo. “There’s that reassurance.”

For mum Stephanie simply being around older people is what she loves. “I used to be a nurse in a hospital and cared for older people. My favourite thing was always chatting to the patients and hearing their stories. Here I get to do that without the pressure of it being a job. We can just be friends.”

Stephanie also highlights how the warm welcome from staff makes a big difference to how comfortable she feels. “As soon as you walk in the door it’s smiles from everyone, from the staff on the reception desk to the people in the café. Sometimes when you go to a new playgroup you can feel glared at. There’s none of that here.”

The group is also as a chance for parents and childminders to connect among themselves. “We have a little group of childminders who come for the playgroup then all go off to the park and then lunch afterwards,” says Jo. “It’s nice for them because they get a bit of a break during the playgroup and they all do something together.”

The inspiration for the playgroup came from Hannah, a previous Care Lead at the home who went off to have her daughter, Freya, now two-and-a-half and another playgroup regular. Hannah’s connection with Pilgrims’ Friend Society first came as an agency staff member working at Leonora Home, our organisation’s former home in Chippenham. When Middlefields House opened in 2021, she joined as a permanent member of the team.

“Working through the pandemic was an incredibly tough time and the way we got through it was by pulling together,” she says. “In effect, we became each other’s family. That connection goes so deep that when I had my daughter Freya I wanted that to continue, and that’s where the idea for a playgroup came from.” Initially meeting on a Thursday, the playgroup has been taking in place on a Wednesday in its present form since January 2025.

Visiting the home, Freya is clearly in her element. On her way up to the Winter Garden, she’ll greet ‘Aunty Ruth’ (our administrator) and ‘Aunty Rali’ (our Registered Care Manager) as she passes by their offices. “Everyone is ‘aunty’ to Freya,” says Hannah. “She’s so at home here. It’s not surprising really as I worked here all through my pregnancy and so even in the womb she was hearing all the voices and sounds of life in a care home.”

Hannah and her family feel strongly connected to the spiritual life of the care home, so much so that when Freya was a baby she had her dedication at Middlefields House, attended by family members and staff.