“Meeting Places has made me reminisce to when I first lived in Newham and all the changes. I wasn’t happy about all the changes, I thought I won’t know anyone, people will moved, but I still see them sometimes and I’m fine here.”
Meeting Places was run for older people in Newham in conjunction with Stratford Arts Circus.
The idea for the project was created through consultation with a group of older Newham residents who suggested that it would like to explore the idea of various meeting places people might gather once lockdown eased.
The project was run on Zoom and used performing arts, reminiscence and creative writing to engage participants.
Through this, they created short scenes, both real and imagined, and spoken word pieces about characters you might meet in various meeting places across Newham.
Participants then filmed themselves the pieces were then edited and shared on Zoom.
The aim of the project was to:
“It has been so good being part of a group, I have been so lonely during lockdown.”
“My family were very surprised that I got involved, they loved the film we made.”
“I enjoyed myself, and my granddaughter said she couldn’t believe she saw me do the play.”
“Not only did we do the drama, we got to talk to each other after… I wouldn’t have seen these people if I didn’t do this…”