Sheffield hosts hen party to help curb loneliness in older people

20th December 2017

Age UK Sheffield have teamed up with the University of Sheffield and Equal Arts to host a special event, giving people living with dementia the chance to interact with chickens in a bid to curb loneliness and encourage creativity.

The event, which is part of the wider ESRC Festival of Social Sciences funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, is the brainchild of the University of Sheffield, Age UK Sheffield and Equal Arts, who encourage creativity, the arts and activity amongst older people. Equal Arts developed HenPower, which brings older people and chickens together to combat loneliness and depression and improve wellbeing. The aptly dubbed 'Hensioners' are encouraged to hen-keep, caring for the chickens by ensuring they are fed and watered, collecting eggs and interacting with them through the creative arts, which equally benefits both hen and hensioner. At the event, hosted at Norfolk Heritage Park in Sheffield, people living with dementia got the chance to be hensioners for the day. They met the chickens from HenPower and were able to handle them and interact with them for the morning. They also had the chance to put their artistic skills into practice and created chicken inspired art, something that Equal Arts routinely encourage. To read more, please visit https://www.ageuk.org.uk/sheffield/news--campaigns/hen_power/ To donate to Age UK Sheffield, simply click here, or phone 0114 250 2850, or make a cheque payable to -Age UK Sheffield and post it to them at First Floor, South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue, 197 Eyre Street, Sheffield, S1 3FG