Flying the flag for Australia at the Generations United Conference in the United States

Founder of Celebrate Living History Bev Wilkinson speaking at the 2017 Global Intergenerational Conference in Milwaukee WI June 13-16 2017.

With the international attendants of the Generations United Conference

It was an idea that got me excited.

I bounced out of bed eager to work on my project and to enthuse others.

Such was the beginning of the Celebrate Living History project.

In 2012 I interviewed seniors in my local area, Frankston Victoria, Australia for an exhibition.

While I was interviewing the most interesting people I’d ever come across I began to realize the value of the stories these senior citizens were imparting.

These people had lived our history.

As I listened, our age barriers were forgotten and relationships began to form between us.

I was inspired.

Sharing my life changing experience of intergenerational connection with young people became my goal.

In 2012 I developed a university internship program with the help of Griffith University scholar and tutor, Stephen Stockwell, Swinburne University and Frankston High School.

The Celebrate Living History program grew into an online platform with the focus of connecting young students with seniors to document stories for future generations to enjoy and learn from.

My goal for the mixed tape session is to share my enthusiasm for documenting the stories of our seniors.

I hope that by sharing my experiences of mentoring secondary and tertiary students to curate stories for the Celebrate Living History online portal I can enthuse others to take up this important work.