CARE home staff were brought to tears by a child’s poem about the need to care for elderly people.
The prize-winning poem, submitted for a competition by Abbey House Care Home, stressed that people should be treated equally with respect.
Its author, 11-year-old Jack Mister, a pupil at Abbey Meads Community Primary School, said: “The poem represents that everybody’s the same and whoever they are and whatever’s wrong we are all equal.”
The competition asked youngsters from Abbey Meads primary and Abbey Park School to create artistic responses to dementia and those who suffer with the condition.
Youngster Jack said: “People with dementia, they’re still people and they’re still the same.”
Kinga Dabrowska of Abbey House said: “We wanted children to present a creative imagining of old age. The response was great and the children were so amazing.
“Jack’s poem had everyone in tears. I won’t be able to read it when we present the prize, so I need to ask Jack to do it.
“The children who entered had such a great understanding of dementia. Their work showed the children understood that people with dementia still need to be included in life.”
Year 11 pupil Amy Hillier won the Abbey Park competition category with a collage of old and young faces. The 15-year-old from Redhouse said: “I just wanted to show there are connections between young and old people. Age is just a number.”
Prizes were donated by Laser Quest, the Swindon Wildcats, Freedog trampoline park, the Oasis Leisure Centre and Roves Farm.
Jack's poem:
Big or small
Black or white
We all share the same daylight
Short or tall
Young or old
We all feel the same water cold
Some fight for rights
Some fight in the war
We all walk across
The same humble floor
We shall not judge each other
We all have one heart
We are all beautiful
We are all smart
If we have problems
With our body
Or problems with our minds
Each of us is special
So always be kind
This week marks Dementia Action Week, with activities across Swindon led by Swindon Borough Council. For more, visit: www.alzheimers.org.uk/get-involved/dementia-action-week.
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