Soton charity champions under-represented voice of older generation for City Reflections’ project

SERVICE users and volunteers from a charity working to eradicate loneliness in Southampton are participating in a ships and shipping project for City Reflections to celebrate the city’s maritime history (July 2025).

Communicare is working with Southampton Forward and Southampton City Council to explore what ships and the city’s maritime history mean to the charity’s community, and the team has been exploring the city’s archives, maritime vaults and art collection.

Communicare Coordinator, Stephen Muldowney-Mizen, explains: “We’ve been looking for artefacts that tell the story of Southampton’s boats and shipping history, and recently we took a group of service users and volunteers to visit the SeaCity museum to discuss what we had found out so far, the stories they have about the port, sea and the city’s ships.”

Photograph caption: (L-R) Communicare Coordinator, Stephen Muldowney-Mizen, service users Ogomoditse Keitirile and Kishan Kumar, Communicare Manager, Annie Clewlow, and volunteer, Barbara Wright at SeaCity Museum for the ‘Cultural Curators’ City Reflections project.

As part of City Reflections: Illuminating Southampton’s Stories in February 2026, Stephen is one of six Community Curators, each working with their own community to co-create animated light projections for a trail through Southampton’s Old Town and city centre. Each curator has been paired with a heritage building and theme, uncovering stories and selecting objects from the city’s Art, Maritime and Archaeology Collections that connect both to the building and to what resonates most with their community. Stephen’s projection, inspired by ships and shipping, will be one of six installations on the trail.

Stephen adds: “By getting our service users and volunteers involved in this project, we’re amplifying an often-under-represented voice: the city’s older generation and those often isolated, as they are unable to get out and about without assistance. As life becomes more challenging, their world shrinks. It’s Communicare’s mission to be able to reconnect them with opportunities like this.

“Trips out are essential, as they provide so many benefits to someone’s physical, mental and emotional wellbeing. They help combat isolation, reduce feelings of loneliness, and provide social interaction, which is vital for maintaining healthy social connections. 

“The benefit of working with a demographic that is heavily weighted towards the older community is huge, as their knowledge, experience and understanding of the story of Southampton goes deeper than most.”

Communicare, which is a friendly, neighbourhood charity, provides services that enrich the lives of isolated people in and around Southampton.

Annie Clewlow, Manager at the charity, which works with the vulnerable and isolated says:

“This visit to SeaCity museum was an exciting opportunity to listen to each other’s stories and to take time to select the images and information that would be reflected across the city, re-energising them for younger generations. I was also able to share how I first set foot in the UK on Southampton soil at the age of two, having been born in Southern Rhodesia now Zimbabwe.”

“Arriving on board the Pendennis Castle Liner, trusty teddy under one arm, my abiding memory is of meeting my grandfather for the first time and finding a conker in the park.”

“Projects and trips out like these are essential to our service users, as they provide so many benefits to their physical, mental and emotional wellbeing. They help combat isolation, reduce feelings of loneliness, and provide social interaction, which is vital for maintaining healthy social connections. 

“Outings also promote physical activity, stimulate the mind, and offer a change of scenery, improving one’s mood and cognitive function. We’re so grateful to City Reflections, Southampton Forward and SeaCity museum for involving us and our community with this project and for assisting us with our tip and our research.”

Communicare’s services are staffed by its devoted volunteers, known as Communiteers, who give their time freely.

Communicare is currently supporting around 750 individuals/families through tasks including befriending, transport for appointments and assistance with shopping and always needs more donations and volunteers to help with its work.

The services it provides are free to users, although beneficiaries are invited to make a donation if they are able to, and Communiteers are offered expenses.

Annie adds: “We’re here to help people live their best lives, rather than to just exist. There has been lots of research showing how loneliness impacts on both someone’s physical and mental wellbeing, so projects like this, which really help stimulate the mind and offer a chance to come together as a group and share stories are brilliant.”

To find out more, please visit www.communicareinsouthampton.org.uk.

ENDS

For further details about Communicare or for interviews, please contact Manager, Annie Clewlow on 07857 650707, or manager@communicareinsouthampton.org.uk.

Photo credit Tim Kenyon Photography.