Residents of Port of Leith Housing Association’s Hermitage Court sheltered housing complex rolled back the years this week when they were treated to a play reading by Citadel Arts Group.
Local schoolchildren are participating in Citadel’s ‘Old’s Cool’, an inter-generational project where they have been looking at how working life has changed over the years. Citadel Arts Group is developing a play about work, and the reading was an opportunity to discuss those changes with generations who have experienced them.
Leith Docks: a great life is about a Leith docker’s family in the 1960s and tackles the issue of whether the son should follow in his father’s footsteps. The reading was performed by Citadel actors Greg Davidson, Mark Kydd and Derek McGhie – all Leithers – and Helen Cuinn, and after the performance children and residents shared their experiences with each other.
Liz Hare, artistic director of Citadel Arts Group, said: “We have been doing these intergenerational projects with Port of Leith Housing Association for five years now and they prove to be really beneficial for both the residents and the pupils.”
Suzie Connery, scheme coordinator at Hermitage Court, said: “Projects like these are invaluable in helping people feel valued and part of the community. The best feedback we get is when the kids tell us they have seen the older people in the street or supermarket and have stopped to chat to them.”
Leith Academy pupil Stephen McWhirter, who’s grandad used to work on Leith Docks, said: “If it was a movie, I’d watch it a hundred times!”
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