1. “Being a catalyst: working with and for older
people in Blakelaw”
Second year of the Age UK Newcastle Young Ambassador Project: a
report on the work of 48, Year 6 children of Thomas Walling
Primary Academy, Newcastle, in their first term of academic year
2014/2015 by Philip Cheung on behalf of the children
Supervising teachers: Miss E Jewitt, Miss J Phazey, Thomas Walling Primary
Academy, Blakelaw, Newcastle upon Tyne
ProjectFacilitator: Dr Philip Cheung, Mr David Robinson
Founder members of Catalyst Network, AgeUK
Newcastle
January2015

2. 1
Foreword
Most charities, if not all, rely on people giving up their time as volunteers because they care
about what a particular charity represents and the services that they provide. Age UK
Newcastle a local charity working to support local people to make the most of later life is
not unique in that respect. We have been working in Newcastle for over 50 years and
volunteers are the lifeblood of the organisation; without them our befriending and lunch
club services which sit at the heart of local communities across Newcastle would not exist.
Volunteering provides an opportunity to make a difference to local communities by doing
something of value that we can feel good about. It is also an opportunity to learn new skills.
Obviously, the amount of time given for volunteering is constrained by work and personal
commitments, but it is not impossible for a very busy adult to give up a few hours of their
time occasionally. It should be acknowledged though that it is more difficult for children of
school age to take on regular or even occasional volunteering commitments.
The 2-year long Young Community Ambassador project which was set up by Dr Philip
Cheung and Mr David Robinson in March 2013, for example, shows that it is possible to
involve primary school children actively in volunteering opportunities in a more imaginative
way. That depends of course on the ethos of the school and the senior management team
and equally important the support of their children’s parents and or guardians.
In this Ambassador project, primary school children have learned to work for a local charity
dedicated to serving people who are over 50 years of age. It is hoped that these children will
be inspired to seek further opportunities to work with Age UK Newcastle in the future.
The emphasis of the second year of the Ambassador project was to focus on how children
can become catalysts for the good of the community in Blakelaw. 48 primary school children
of Thomas Walling Primary Academy in Blakelaw, Newcastle acted as such and achieved
some important tasks which will help to improve the community in which they are a part,
either as residents or as school children from other locations. You will see from this short
report that the children were able to find out from residents how they see Blakelaw as a
place to live and acted on some of the issues identified.

3. 2
We have learned from the project through a formal interviewing exercise carried out by
these children that older people enjoy the company of primary school children and are
interested in their school. One of the key ongoing objectives of being a catalyst, is to
empower the children to work with those who are lonely and confined to their homes in
Blakelaw.
The work has made a substantial contribution to Age UK Newcastle’s engagement work
with local communities and is making an important contribution to a new campaign that
Age UK nationally has launched called ‘No One Should Have No One’ which highlights the
extent and impact of social isolation and loneliness in later life. Through this project we have
been exploring how experienced volunteers like Philip and Dave can be supported to run
with their own ideas and take the initiative. We are delighted with the results and are keen
to encourage more people to contact us if they like what we do and want to contribute to
making Newcastle a good place in which to grow old. If you have a project idea - great! If
not don’t worry as we have lots! The learning from this work has enhanced our engagement
programme, given us food for thought about our presence in local communities and how we
work with older people, their families and friends - something that many older people tell us
is important to them.
My warmest thanks to Philip, Dave, and staff of Thomas Walling Primary Academy especially
Miss Phazey and Miss Jewitt and also to Sue Pearson and Glen Pendleton and the many
people in Blakelaw who made this happen. Last and not least a big thank you to the pupils
for their enthusiasm and commitment in taking part and for the great work that they have
done.
Fran O’Brien
Head of Resource and Business Development
Age UK Newcastle

4. 3
Project summary
During the academic year 2013/2014, six pupils in Yr. 5 at Thomas Walling Primary Academy
and 6 pupils from Hilton Primary Academy, Blakelaw, successfully completed the first year
of the Age UK Newcastle Young Ambassador project.
This year, pupils from Hilton Primary Academy were not able to take part. 48 of us in Yr. 6
took the opportunity to get involved.
During the first term we have been concentrating on how children like us can become
catalysts in Blakelaw and help to create a happy and pleasant environment for everyone to
live in, especially for older people in Blakelaw.
The main purpose of this term’s work was to learn how to:
 communicate with older people and to find out from them about living in Blakelaw,
 carry out a questionnaire in public places
 produce a report and make suggestions to Blakelaw Partnership for making
improvements.
We worked with volunteers of Age UK Newcastle, Dr Cheung and Mr Robinson, almost every
Tuesday afternoon from the beginning of September 2014.
In this report we will concentrate on the results of the 2 projects which we completed
during the last few weeks.
We did a questionnaire survey of people older and younger than 50 years of age asking
them what they think about Blakelaw as a place to live in. In the other project, one half of
the Yr. 6 pupils interviewed 5 people older than 50.
The results of these projects show that certain improvements are needed for those who live
in Blakelaw. For example:
Although most of the residents said Blakelaw is, on the whole, a friendly and a safe place to
live in with good shopping facilities, good transport and good street lighting, there are some
concerns.
 the streets need to be a lot cleaner
 although children are friendly, people were not sure about teenagers being friendly
and helpful.
 jobs are not easy to come by for young people.
 the traffic is busy

5. 4
 green spaces are limited
 inadequate sport facilities for older people
 limited number of places for older people to meet and socialise
 lack of organised activities for young people, such as youth clubs;
 lack of community services and social activities such as dancing, art, organised social
events, lunch clubs for older people to socialise
 lack of other amenities such as swimming pool, restaurants and clothes shops for all
We will report on the questionnaire survey and the interviews with older people separately.

6. 5
Section A: The questionnaire survey
1. Introduction:
The survey was carried out using a questionnaire prepared by Dr Cheung – see
Appendix I.
We were given some instructions about doing a survey and did some practice-runs
before we went out publicly to do the survey. The classroompreparation was to
make sure that we were competent and able to do the job well.
The survey took place on the 4th November 2014. Twenty two of us stayed outside
Lidl and B&M Home Store in Blakelaw shopping precinct inviting older people to take
part and the other 22 of us were outside Costa asking people younger than 50 years
of age to get involved.
We all enjoyed doing the survey and have learned how to approach people and
encourage them to take part. In 90 minutes we succeeded in getting a total of 162
people involved.
2. The survey results:
2.1. A total of 162 people took part in the survey: 92 people older than 50 and 70 younger
than 50. The breakdown of men and women in each group is shown in Table 1 below.
Older than 50 Under 50
Male female Male Female Total
27 65 15 55 162
Table 1: showing breakdown of number of men and women over 50 and under 50 years of
age who took part in the survey

7. 6
Chart 1: showing breakdown of number of men and women over 50 and under 50 years of
age who took part in the survey
2.2. Number of completed questionnaires used for this report
Although 162 people filled in the questionnaire, 89 of them cannot be used for this report as
8 of them were partially completed, and 81 people lived outside Blakelaw. We only wanted
people living in Blakelaw. Only 73 completed questionnaires were usable for the making of
this report.
2.3. The breakdown of the number of men and women over 50 in each age category whose
questionnaires were included in this report
Gender Men
Age ranges 50-59 60-69 70-79 80+ Total
2 6 1 1 10
Gender Female
Age ranges 50-59 60-69 70-79 80+ Total
12 12 3 1 28
Tables 2(a) and 2(b): showing the age ranges of men and women over 50 whose
questionnaires were included in this report
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
over 50 yrs. under 50 yrs
men
women

8. 7
Chart 2(a): showing the number of men over 50 whose questionnaireswere includedinthis
report

9. 8
Chart 2 (b):showingthe numberof womenover50whose questionnaireswere includedinthis
report

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2.3.1. The number of years for older residents living in Blakelaw:
On average men older than 50 included in this report have lived in Blakelaw for 16 years
(sd± 29.22). The duration ranges from 7 to 50 year. One man had lived in Blakelaw for less
than one year and has been excluded from the calculations.
On average, women over 50 years of age included in the report have lived in Blakelaw for
34.4 years (sd± 18.90) The duration of residency ranges from 1 month to 50 years. The
person who had only lived in Blakelaw for a month has been excluded from the calculations.
2.4. Number of men and women under 50 years of age taking part in the survey
Gender Male Female Total
number 6 29 35
Table 3: showing the number of men and women under 50 taking part in the survey
Chart 3: showing the number of men and women under 50 whose questionnaires were
included in the report
under 50 yrs
men
women

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2.4.1. The number of years for these men and women under 50 living in Blakelaw:
The average length of stay in Blakelaw is 16.25 years (sd±8.44) for men and 14 years
(sd±8.91) for women. The length of residency ranges from 7 to 30 years for men and 5 to 30
years for women.
3. Views of Blakelaw as a place to live in by men and women aged over 50
Gender
Question items
Male Female
Yes No Not sure Total Yes No Not sure Total
Friendly place 8 1 1 10 27 0 1 28
Good shopping 10 0 0 10 27 0 1 28
Traffic busy 10 0 0 10 23 3 2 28
Plenty of green spaces 3 4 3 10 16 8 4 28
Good transport 7 0 3 10 27 1 0 28
Safe place to live 7 1 2 10 16 1 11 28
Enough sport facilities
for older people
3 3 4 10 8 3 17 28
Plenty to do 5 3 2 10 12 6 10 28
Places to meet 7 2 1 10 13 8 7 28
Good lighting 10 0 0 10 26 0 2 28
Children friendly 9 0 1 10 27 0 1 28
Teenagers helpful 4 1 5 10 12 1 15 28
Clean streets 4 6 0 10 14 7 7 28
Young people get jobs
easily
1 6 3 10 3 11 14 28
Table 4: showing views of Blakelaw as a place to live by men and women over 50

12. 11
Chart 4(a) Viewsof Blakelaw asa place to live inbymenover50 yearsof age
Chart 4(b):Viewsof Blakelaw asaplace to live inbywomenover50 yearsof age
8
10 10
3
7 7
3
5
7
10
9
4 4
1
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
yes
no
not sure
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
yes
no
not sure

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4. Views of Blakelaw as a place to live as seen by men and women aged under 50
Gender
Question items
Male Female
yes no Not sure total yes no Not sure total
Friendly place 5 1 0 6 24 0 5 29
Good shopping 6 0 0 6 27 0 2 29
Traffic busy 6 0 0 6 25 3 1 29
Plenty of green space 6 0 0 6 11 10 8 29
Good transport 6 0 0 6 24 1 4 29
Safe place to live 4 2 0 6 15 4 10 29
Enough sport facilities for older
people
3 3 0 6 16 4 9 29
Plenty to do 3 3 0 6 19 5 5 29
Places to meet 4 1 1 6 21 3 5 29
Good lighting 5 0 1 6 27 1 1 29
Children friendly 4 0 2 6 23 1 5 29
Teenagers helpful 1 2 3 6 12 5 12 29
Clean streets 4 1 1 6 15 6 8 29
Young people get jobs easily 3 1 2 6 7 12 10 29
Table 5: views of Blakelaw as a place to live as seen by men and women aged under 50

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Chart 5(a): Viewsof Blakelaw asa place tolive inby menunder50 yearsof age
Chart 5(b):Viewsof Blakelaw asaplace to live inbywomenunder50 yearsof age
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
yes
no
not sure
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
yes
no
not sure

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5. The results of the questionnaire survey
Friendly place: A majority of those taking part in the survey said that Blakelaw is a
friendly place to live in with good shopping facilities, good transport, good lighting and
children are friendly.
Busy traffic: A large majority of those taking part in the survey agreed that the
roads in Blakelaw are busy: 93% (n=73)
Street cleanliness: 66% (6 out of10) of the men said that the streets are not clean;
whereas 7 out of the 28 women (25%) said the streets are not clean and other 7 (25%) said
they were not sure about the street cleanliness.
The women in the younger age group share the same view as the older women; 6 out of 29
(20%) said the streets are not clean and 8 out of 29 (28%) said they were not sure about the
street cleanliness.
The men in the younger age group were not as critical as the older men: 4 out of the 6 who
took part in the survey said the streets were clean.
Green spaces: The 6 men under 50 in this survey were happy with the number of
green spaces In Blakelaw.
Of the women under 50 only 38% (n=11) agreed with the men. 34 % (n=10) feel there is not
enough and 28% (n=8) were not sure.
30% (n=3) of men over 50 in this survey were happy with the number of green spaces In
Blakelaw. 40% (n=4) disagreed. 30% (n=3) were not sure.
Of the women over 50, 57% (n=16) were happy with the number of green spaces In
Blakelaw. 29% (n=8) disagreed. 14% (n=4) were not sure.
Sport facilities for older people: Older and younger men and women were not sure
whether there were sufficient facilities for sports in Blakelaw. For example 3 out of 10 (30%)
older men said “yes”, and the same number said “no” and 4 (40%) were not sure. The 6 men
under 50 questioned were divided equally between yes and no.
17 out of 28 of the women over 50 were not sure about this issue. The younger women
seemed to be more positive about this as 16 out of 29 (55%) said “yes”
Places to meet: 13 out of 28 (46%) women over 50 said there were places to meet
friends, however, 8 (28%) said no and the remaining 7 (25%) women weren’t sure.
Young people can get jobs easily: There appears to be a general agreement by all that
young people will not get jobs easily in Blakelaw.

16. 15
Section B: Interviewing older people
We were given an opportunity to interview some older people to find out about their
experiences of living in Blakelaw. We hope the ideas given to us will add something to the
results of our questionnaire survey.
With the help of Mr Robinson, we prepared 10 questions in class which were used for
interviews. We also had some mock interview exercises to make sure we understood what
we would be asking people to talk about.
The interviews took place on the 11th November 2014. 22 of us were divided into 3 groups.
While the first group was doing the interviews, we acted as ambassadors for our school
doing a conducted tour for our visitors. We were told by Dr Cheung that the visitors were
impressed with the school and us.
At the actual interview, 3 of us were working together, 2 did the interview, one of us did a
portrait of the interviewee.
During the interview, we were supervised by staff of Blakelaw Partnership who helped us to
ask extra questions. The interview took 20 minutes. The interviews were tape recorded.
At the end of the interview, we potted up some “Tete a Tete” Narcissus bulbs and presented
them to our visitors.
We have had further feedback from the interviewees via Dr Cheung. We were told that
every interviewee enjoyed being with us and talking with us.
It was our first experience of interviewing older people and we have a lot to learn to
become good interviewers as some of the questions we prepared did not help people to talk
freely and expand on what we wanted them to say.
We interviewed 5 older people; two of the interviews did not go particularly well as the
interviewees only provided short answers. If we were given further opportunity, we would
practise more and make sure we do not ask “open and shut” questions and learn to
encourage interviewees to talk more freely about their experiences. We are pleased
however to include two interview transcripts which appear to complement the
questionnaire survey results.

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Interview 1
Children’s introduction:
Hello, my name is….and this is my friend….We are from Thomas Walling Primary School, and
today we would like to ask you 10 short questions about your experience of living in
Blakelaw. We will then use the information to make improvements in Blakelaw.
How are you today?
May I ask your name?
How long have you lived in Blakelaw?
A: 47 years
Q.1: Why did you choose to live in Blakelaw?
A: Well, I didn’t actually choose to live here, circumstances dictated it because the house I
lived was damp, all Blakelaw was prefabs. They pulled the prefabs down and moved me into
a new house where I am now.
Q.2: Do you feel comfortable living in Blakelaw?
A: I do, the majority of the time.
Q.3: What do you like about Blakelaw?
A: I like my neighbours. I like the area and it is very good for buses to get back and forth to
town and to other places like Hexham and places like that. When I first moved here, the
schools were very good and are still very good. It was lovely for children to play here. I don’t
know what it’s like now for children as my children and grandchildren have grown up now. I
like the library. Blakelaw, it’s always been a lovely place to live
Q.4: Do you think Blakelaw is a friendly place to live?
A: Yes

18. 17
Q.5: What do you enjoy doing in Blakelaw
A: I have friends in Blakelaw that I go with. I spend a lot of time in the library. We have a
coffee morning here every week and I have made friends there we go to different trips but
we don’t do a lot in Blakelaw.
Q.6: Is it easy to talk to people you don’t know without feeling intimidated?
A: Yes, most of the time.
Q.7: Do some people make fun of you?
A: “No, no”. I don’t say they make fun of me, but sometimes when I walk along my road on
my way visiting my daughters, there are some young girls and lads, 16 or 17 made some
remarks, it could be a bit intimidating, but I wouldn’t say they make fun of you.
Q.8: Do you feel safe at night?
A: Yes
Q.9: Is there anything that worries you about Blakelaw?
A: No worries, no.
Q.10: What would you like to see changed in Blakelaw?
A: Nothing about Blakelaw, but it is just the general things about the City Council and street
cleaning, like other people. Blakelaw is nice.
That’s the final question, and we would like to thank you for being so generous with your
time, and for sharing personal information. Your answers will prove very useful for our
Young Ambassador Project, to make Blakelaw a better place in which to live.
Comments from interviewee at the end: Thank you very much because you have been so
polite. I have had such a nice time. I have seen all the school and you showed me
everything. If all the children are like you, Blakelaw would be a nice place.

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Interview 2
The interview was given the same introduction as in interview 1. So the transcript begins
with the question of how long have you lived in Blakelaw.
A: About 18 to 19 months
Q.1: Why did you choose to live in Blakelaw?
A: I didn’t choose to live in Blakelaw. My daughter lives in Blakelaw and the price of the
house is reasonable, to be honest.
Q.2: Do you feel comfortable living in Blakelaw?
A: Most of the time.
Q.3: What do you like about Blakelaw?
A: Near the city, good bus service and I like some of the residents here.
Q.4: Do you think Blakelaw is a friendly place to live?
A: It is a friendly place on the whole, but some residents aren’t, but you will get that
anywhere, don’t you.
Q.5: What do you enjoy doing in Blakelaw?
A: I use the library, chat with friends, walk the dog as there are some nice green places.
Newcastle has a lot of nice places to go to. I go swimming in Denton which is not far from
where I live. I have a nice garden and I like gardening.
Q.6: Is it easy to talk to people you don’t know without being intimidated?
A: No. I find it easy to talk to people.

20. 19
Q.7: Do some people make fun of you?
A: They wouldn’t dare! I like people. I like talking to people. When I am on the bus I talk to
other people. When I first moved here, I left my friends behind and I have to make some
more friends.
Q.8: Do you feel safe at night?
A: Yes. Only on one occasion, policemen knocked on my door at 3.00 o’clock in the morning
as they have just seen someone going into my garden, and they said could we have a look,
and they didn’t see anybody as they have gone, so I went back to bed and that was the only
occasion.
Q.9: Is there anything that worries you about Blakelaw?
A: Yes, some of the children are very unruly. A lot of litter about which really upsets me
because my mother told me to take my litter home if there isn’t a bin. I know I am getting,
I’m 71, so I’ve got a different view to anybody else, so when I take my dog out, I take a
carrier bag and being a womble pick all the rubbish up.
Q.10: What would you like changed in Blakelaw?
A: Less rubbish, more interaction with the children. I’d like to talk to them but some of them
I don’t want to know.

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5. Action we can take from our work
The results of the survey highlight some concerns about Blakelaw and these concerns are
out of our reach to do something about. We hope this report will enable Blakelaw
Partnership to take action to change Blakelaw. We will be pleased to help to do something
for Blakelaw community.
The Ambassadors last year discovered while they were walking from home to school, that
the streets are littered, contaminated by dog mess and domestic rubbish. People were seen
spitting onto the streets. A part of our Catalyst activity which we could do immediately was
to produce some eye-catching posters to encourage people in Blakelaw to keep the streets
clean. One of the Yr. 6 classes has selected 7 posters from a total of 30. We hope Blakelaw
Partnership will be able to print these properly and for them to be displayed around
Blakelaw permanently. We can help find areas where the posters should be put.

22. 21
Children’s posters

23. 22

24. 23

25. 24

26. 25

27. 26

28. 27

29. 28
Conclusion
The 48 children of Thomas Walling Primary Academy have worked hard on this project. The
results of the exercises completed by them can be used to implement changes in Blakelaw.
The children are particularly keen to see the streets cleaned up which would please many of
the residents involved in this project.
It is hoped that this report will be used by other agencies, so that issues raised by the
children here can be seen as indicators for where action can be taken for improvements in
other areas.
This project involving schools and adult volunteers could be seen by charities as a template
for encouraging young people to give up their time to engage in community activity.
It also assumes the willingness of schools and education authorities to recognise the value
of such an exercise both in developing young people’s skills and in promoting
intergenerational collaboration.

30. 29
Appendix I
Blakelaw Street survey conducted by Thomas Walling Primary School,
Blakelaw
Venue:Blakelawshopping precinct
Children work in pairs under adult supervision
Children approach (guided by adults) people aged 50 and above who live in Blakelaw and
each pair of ambassadors will do 10 interviews
Introduction
What children could say: Good morning/afternoon. We are children from Thomas Walling
Primary School, could we talk with you for a few minutes please?
We are doing a survey for Age UK Newcastle to find out what you think of Blakelaw as a
place to live. The survey will take a few minutes, is that alright?
_______________________________________________________
Ask volunteers to complete questions 1-4
1. Are you Male □ or Female □
2. How old are you? (please tick one box)
50-59 □ 60-69 □ 70-79 □ 80+ □
3. How many years have you lived in Blakelaw?
______________________________________________
4. Please give your postcode
______________________________________________

31. 30
5. Which of these are true of Blakelaw? (You can tick as many answers as
you want)
Friendly neighbourhood True □ False □ Not sure □
Good shopping facilities True □ False □ Not sure □
Busy traffic True □ False □ Not sure □
Plenty of green space True □ False □ Not sure □
Good public transport True □ False □ Not sure □
A safeplace to live True □ False □ Not sure □
Sufficient sport/exercise
facilities for older people True □ False □ Not sure □
Plenty to do True □ False □ Not sure □
Places to meet people True □ False □ Not sure □
Good street lighting True □ False □ Not sure □
Children are friendly True □ False □ Not sure □
Teenagers are helpful True □ False □ Not sure □
Streets are clean True □ False □ Not sure □
Easy for young people to
get a job nearby True □ False □ Not sure □
6. Is there anything you would like to see available in Blakelaw? For
example, lunch clubs for older people, more community activities for the
residents.
Thank you for your help.