Hackney Homes Elders Talking 2012

In 2012 the Hackney Homes over-55 focus group made a series of live Internet radio broadcasts, exploring perceptions of identity, belonging, community and home. The primary purpose was participation rather than attracting listeners, but everything was recorded. You can listen to repackaged extracts of six sessions here.

The feedback from the participants was excellent — for example, from Prudence: “These were powerful sessions. We all have stories to tell that we haven’t told our children, friends or anyone. This radio project allowed us to share our experiences to help others.”

This was a very low budget project. Everything was recorded in a noisy community space, with no professional equipment at all. So the sound quality is bad, but irrelevant to the participants because they were talking to each other.

This is how Hackney elders tackle social isolation — they can help isolated people in their community because they have an intimate acquaintance with the dynamics of social exclusion and inclusion, often as survivors.