Meet Your Student Company: Golden Memories Social Activity Centre

SERC is home to many amazing and ingenious student companies that work in a variety of sectors to help the local community. We aim to highlight the good work these companies do through interviews with the students involved.  

This month, we had a chat with Level 3 National Extended Diploma in Health and Social Care (Health Studies) student Jasmine Hanna, from the Golden Memories Social Activity Centre. The centre allows for isolated adults to come in weekly and enjoy real company. Tea, coffee, scones, and a range of activities are provided for the attendees.  

Tell us a bit about your student company 

“We set up a day centre every Monday for isolated individuals over the age of 65. We organised parking and a suitable room in which we could run our day centre. We put policies in place to keep everyone safe, such as the Health and Safety at Work Act and the Food and Hygiene Safety Act”. 

What is your favourite thing about working at Golden Memories?  

“We have developed so many professional and personal skills that we can use in the real workplace. We also make older people happy by asking them what activities they want to do instead of us assuming”. 

Are there any projects/ events your student company is working on right now?  

"Due to covid we can’t run our day centre anymore, we are working on an alternative that may be called a ‘personal pandemic care box’, which would be sent to our service users' homes, full of activities, armchair aerobics and a letter from us to see how they are doing”.  

What is the most positive impact you think your student company has had on other people? 

“It has given isolated people a place to gain new friends and relationships which they may not have had a chance to meet anywhere else. It gives them a sense of joy and fun when we have activities they enjoy. We have had service users join our day centre and make friends with people who live right round the corner from them. It builds friendships outside our day centre”. 

Has your course at SERC helped in the development of your student company? 

“My course has been super helpful in understanding policy and legislation in the workplace. It’s great because we learned the theory in class and then practically learned how to apply these policies in our day centre. We liaise with other courses in SERC to bring in some activities such as catering (scones and tea for service users), the beauty department (free nail and hair treatments) and the ICT department (to give older people guidance if they were unsure how to use their phone or iPad properly) to give our service users variety in the activities”. 

Where would you like to see your student company in the future? 

“I hope that the day centre is still running in the future with more funding being supplied as it would give a lot more opportunities and activities for the older people to take part in. It is also a great opportunity for students on the health and social care course to get a real sense of what a great career it is.” 

Find out more about Golden Memoires here 

If you are interested in a career in caregiving, please consider our Health & Care courses 

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