The Péngyǒu gang out on a boat at Arundel Wetland centre (July 2016). photo credit Ray Gibson


Péngyǒu, which means ‘friend’ in Chinese, was a befriending and support project which provided relief to isolated and vulnerable Chinese elders in Brighton and Hove who, due to language barriers, were experiencing high levels of social and cultural isolation.

Péngyǒu ran throughout 2016 and created a series of activities, trips and educational sessions, bringing 70 elders (50 Chinese and 20 BME other elders) together with 10 Chinese young people, for befriending, informal action learning activities and cultural trips.
In doing this we helped isolated elders get out of their homes and brought them into contact with young Chinese people who they would not get the chance to connect with otherwise.