Former Finalists of Britain's Got Talent Back Charity's AGEnda Skills Swap

The launch of the charity's AGEnda initiative, follows a national survey which showed that a high percentage of young and old hold negative opinions and views about one another.

Ashley Tisdale (Twist), said: "We think it's a great idea, young people can learn some cool things from older people and older people can learn some interesting stuff from young people so Abbeyfield AGEnda is a good thing."

Twist and Pulse who returned to Britain's Got Talent this year with their own dance troupe 'Twist and Pulse Dance Company' said: "Every generation has something that they can share with the next one, a skill, a hobby or even an experience. This is a great chance to see what we can offer each other and hopefully help get rid of some of the negativity."

The AGEnda initiative which will take place during June (although more specifically during Abbeyfield Week June 9^th -16^th ) is to get younger people to arrange a Skills Swap event with a local Abbeyfield house or care home to help improve the relationship between the different generations.  

Everyone who participates in an Abbeyfield Skills Swap, will be asked to record their activity by drawing, filming, photographing, writing or any combination of these mediums, explaining their experience. Their entry will then go to an Abbeyfield panel of judges who will select the best Skills Swap. The winning group will be visited by the popular dance act and enjoy a dance workshop and an up close and personal Twist and Pulse performance for their school or youth group in September.  

Glen Coco (Pulse) said: "We can't wait to visit the winning Skills Swap group in September.  We really want people to get involved.  If you haven't done so already get involved contact Abbeyfield with your idea for a Skills Swap and then tell Abbeyfield about it.

Abbeyfield spokesperson Sam Alleyne said: "We want to encourage young people to engage more with the older generation and hope this will help. Communication between the two groups is really important in today's society where old and young no longer live so closely together. We are really keen for young volunteers to get involved with our residents on an ongoing basis. Our Skills Swap is part of a national drive, so Abbeyfield houses all over the country are running swaps during Abbeyfield Week."

Twist and Pulse who also featured on this years Britain's Got Talent, as their new super slick, child dance troupe, sped through the qualifying stages all the way through to the live semi finals in May, are very excited and enthusiastic about the Abbeyfield Week AGEnda Skills Swap initiative.

Survey findings

The survey findings showed that nearly 50% of older people think young people lack morals, have no sense of responsibility and community spirit and are obsessed with celebrities and fame.  

The survey showed that nearly half of the young people aged between18-30 that were polled, think that older people don't respect younger people's views and a third of the young people aged between 10-17 that were polled felt that the older generation held views that were completely outdated and feel that older people are rude.

The survey showed that older and young people spend little time one-to-one - the average amount is just 12 days a year. This applies to 30% of 18-30 year olds and 41% of 10-17 year olds.  The remainder said they don't spend any one-to-one time with older people.  When they do spend time together, they watch TV (10-17 year olds) or have a natter over a cup of tea or lunch (18-30).

Notes to editor:

To find out more information about how you can participate in Abbeyfield AGEnda Skills Swap and how you enter please visit http://www.abbeyfield.com.  

Twist and Pulse will visit the school/youth club who participate and is judged as providing the best description of what they did and what they learnt as part of AGEnda Skills Swap.

Abbeyfield has 600 house and care homes in the UK and 110 houses internationally.  To find out more about the Skills Swap campaign and watch Abbeyfield's short Skills Swap video, visit Abbeyfield.com.

For more information please contact Samantha Alleyne, PR & Marketing Officer on +44(0)1727-734107 or email [email protected].