Grimsby man launches heartwarming video series to give elderly care home residents a platform to tell their stories
A young fitness instructor from Grimsby has launched a "labour of love" venture which aims to give elderly people in care homes the opportunity to have their voices heard and share their incredible stories.
Bailey Greetham-Clark, 21, has collaborated with entertainment website Pubity to launch Retirement Homies, a hilarious and endearing social video series which sees him interview care home residents aged up to 105 years old, and take part in an array of cheeky challenges with them.
Speaking to Grimsby Live, Bailey said a big part of the venture was about giving elderly people - who he believes are often "forgotten" in society - the chance to share the amazing stories of their lives, and shine a positive light on the care sector.
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He said: "Retirement Homies is an incredible show, and it's been a labour of love for me. It's been the best thing to work on. It provides a snapshot into the lives and characters of care home residents, characters that I may very well know so well, but others don't understand that in these homes are real lives and real people and real stories that haven't been told, and it's so special to be able to tell those.
"In each episode I talk to different residents about their lives, memories and opinions, and ask for their advice, as well as getting them to take part in games and challenges - everything from trying to guess Gen Z lingo or slang and listening to Charli XCX's newest song for the first time.
"It's all about shining a positive light on the care sector and having a laugh at the same time. We've only launched a few episodes now, it's only been out for a couple of weeks, but the show's already been watched over 31 million times and the reaction has been amazing with a super supportive community already emerging."
The video series has been piloted in Tanglewood care homes around Lincolnshire, but Pubity has plans to expand the project nationally, and potentially further afield depending on its success.
Bailey continued: "In a lot of ways, the elderly are the forgotten part of our society. When we look at the elderly in care homes, these people built the lives we have now.
"They built the paths we walk on, the cars we drive and the houses we live in, and we just almost forget about them, so we're trying to show that they're still here, they're still incredible and have incredible stories, incredible banter, and they still want to see people and have visitors and joke and have a laugh like normal human beings.
"They're passionate, funny, caring and just the same as us - they're just in a care home or in their own home and not quite as mobile, and we should really make an effort to get to them and help them, because they deserve it."
Ollie Williams, Head of Original Programming at Pubity, said: "We're excited to be launching Retirement Homies into the world, bringing the incredible stories, wisdom and hilarious takes on life of the people who've seen it all to our global community of 130 million followers and beyond."
To see the incredible content on the Retirement Homies Facebook page, click here.