The Youth Sport Trust and Intergenerational Music Making were delighted to win the Physical Activity and Active Ageing award at the International Sport and Culture Association awards, held yesterday (15^th November) in Madrid. Winning the award was Move and Groove, a cross generational music & movement project found to deliver overwhelmingly positive well-being effects for both the young and the old.

Move & Groove was a six week project aimed at intensifying the impact of music and movement on the wellbeing of children and older adults that took place in ten locations across the UK. The project set out to combine the benefits of music and movement, whilst encouraging connection between generations to tackle some of the key issues impacting society today including loneliness, isolation, and anxiety. During the pilot, schools and care homes across England were paired together and staff from each setting were trained to run an intergenerational project. Following this, groups of school aged children visited care home settings where they joined residents for fun music and movement sessions which included singing, dancing and ball games. At the end of the sessions the residents and young people got time to chat and get to know each other. The result was a resoundingly positive effect on the subjective wellbeing of both the care home residents and school children who participated.

Ali Oliver MBE, Chief Executive of the Youth Sport Trust, said:

“We are hugely passionate about inspiring changemakers and building belonging through the power of sport and play. We know the transformational impact that being physically active can have on health and wellbeing, which is why we were incredibly excited to win such a prestigious award for the Move & Groove project. We were delighted by the results of the research and very much hope that the benefits of Move & Groove continue to help generations across the whole UK.”

Speaking about the project Jayne Allen School Sport Coordinator from Highfields School, one of the participating schools said:

“We were delighted to hear that Move and Groove has won such an amazing award. We continued visiting the care home after the pilot finished because of the mutual benefits experienced by students and the Darley Hall residents. Bonds were formed and our students gained so much confidence and life experience, History lessons came alive as the residents had lived through the time periods studied . The residents loved exercising and talking and sharing life with our young students and we will continue to build those relationships over the weeks and months ahead.”

Additionally Lucy Poynton from Shadow Dance, who worked with students at Clare Mount Specialist Sports College, Wirral on Move and Groove said:

"The difference in confidence in some of our children is astonishing. One pupil started the sessions in the corner of the room, feeling nervous, and ended up making a great relationship with one of the residents. Each week, she would make her way over to her at the beginning of class!”

Charlotte Miller, Director and Founder of Intergenerational Music Making, said:

“We were thrilled to partner with The Youth Sport Trust for this ground-breaking intergenerational new pilot. Our mission is to use the magical power of music to connect young people with the older generation to tackle loneliness, isolation and create connected communities. I am delighted that by using our combined expertise in music and physical activity we have proven the mutual benefits on wellbeing, confidence, and empathy. We were honoured to have won for the Physical Activity and Active Ageing award at the International Sport and Culture Association awards. Our hope is that this prestigious endorsement of Move & Groove will help generate greater awareness of the importance that the combined effects of movement and music can have on helping us to live happier and healthier lives.”

Move & Groove was funded by the Sir John Beckwith Charitable Trust. Sir John Beckwith said:

“My vision when I established the Youth Sport Trust in 1994 was to pioneer new ways of using sport to improve children's wellbeing and give them a brighter future.  Move & Groove is an innovative project which aims to combine movement with music, to improve the wellbeing of not just the young but older people too. We want to envisage a Britain where everyone can age well; where everyone’s needs and aspirations are met, and their strengths are recognised respectfully.  We want to create a society where age isn’t an issue but becomes something that is celebrated.”

Research partner London South Bank University (LSBU) designed and conducted the research element of the project and concluded Move & Groove had a ‘resoundingly positive effect on the subjective wellbeing of both the care home residents and school children who participated.’

The executive summary of the research can be found here.