CHILDREN at a Helensburgh nursery have been picking up – and passing on – new skills through weekly visits to a care home in the town.

Five young people from the Mulberry Bush children’s nursery in Charlotte Street visit Northwood House every Friday to meet residents and take part in activity and story-telling sessions.

Mulberry Bush manager Dawn McBride said the ‘Young at Heart’ project was inspired by the TV series ‘Old People’s Home for 4 Year Olds’, broadcast on Channel 4 this summer.

She said: “After watching the programme we spoke to the staff and everyone agreed it would be a fantastic idea for Helensburgh.

“We already have connections with Northwood House through regular visits at Christmas and Annette Gillis, the home’s manager, loved the idea too.

“It’s running on a trial basis at the moment but we’re delighted with how it’s going so far.

“We bring the same five children to the home for an hour every Friday and we have more children who want to come along, so we’ll meet Annette soon and look at how we can best expand the project in the future.”

We caught up with the young visitors on Friday and watched as they joined a small group of residents in a painting session before settling down for a story, The Power of Henry’s Imagination.

Dawn continued: “We can see that the residents really look forward to the children visiting every week. It gives our children some great life experience – their own interaction and communication skills, and their personalities and confidence levels, have improved so much.

“Some of our children might not have regular contact with people of this age but it’s been great to see them engaging so well with older people.

“The staff and residents at Northwood House have been amazing and so have the children’s parents – without their involvement it wouldn’t have been such a success.”

Natalie Millar, a carer at Northwood House, said: “It’s been a great experience for the residents who have taken part. It reminds them of their own childhood and gives them a chance to get creative as well.”