The Community Time Machine project

The ‘Time Machine’ is an age-friendly, cross-generational neighbourhood archive project which connects communities across the country, supported by the Creative Ireland Programme, Age Friendly Ireland and the Department of Rural & Community Development.

The project connects young people and senior citizens who live in the same area. Facilitated interviews are conducted between the pair and their recorded responses, art works and photos create an image of how the community looks now and how it looked in the past.

Our brilliant Community Organisers ran the project by pairing up younger people with older people locally in their communities. The teenagers were asked to interview their senior partners to learn about their lives in the area and what community means to them. The teenagers then worked to produce a unique creative response inspired by the conversation they’d had. The result is an inspiring collection of insights into the hearts and souls that make up communities all over Ireland. We’ve seen teenagers produce everything from poetry and paintings to raised garden beds and cook books, all encouraged and inspired by the seniors at the centre of the project.

The Community Time Machine project is a partnership between Neighbourhood Network, Creative Ireland, Age Friendly Ireland and the Department of Rural & Community Development. It has also received support from Healthy Ireland. The Time Machine team are currently working with communities in Wicklow, Monaghan, Westmeath, Meath and Clare and is expanding the project to include more counties.

This website is a digital time capsule, displaying portraits of the seniors who took part and the amazing creative endeavours and interviews captured by the project’s teenage participants. We hope that you come away from this digital experience feeling connected to these communities and that you are inspired to make some community connections of your own.

Check out our coverage on RTE Lyric FM to hear from some of our participants!

Neighbourhood Network

Neighbourhood Network came from the team behind Street Feast, a national neighbourhood street party event to celebrate community. We are a not-for-profit, community building organisation. We’re all about building and strengthening neighbourhoods and kick-starting ideas for positive community participation.

At our core, we focus on reducing loneliness and social isolation by creating community connections. We do this by running projects that promote neighbourliness, social inclusion, volunteerism and creativity in the community. Since Covid-19 struck, we’ve produced a programme of 30+ activities that enables communities to stay connected to their neighbours through accessible socially-distanced activities.

Our vision is that everyone has the opportunity to be connected in a neighbourhood group and feel included and at home in their communities. We believe that building connections between neighbours leads to more inclusive, healthier and happier communities. We do this by running projects like the Community Time Machine, which encourages positive connection between seniors and young people.