Our Table:
Glossopdale X InCommon
Pilot Event Case Study
Wednesday 22 October 2025
Glossopdale School, Derbyshire
The beginning of an idea
When Simon first heard about Our Table, he felt it was the perfect opportunity to bring several of his passions together. Simon is a chef volunteer at Mike’s Table and a supply teacher at Glossopdale School, a secondary school in Glossop, Derbyshire. He saw that Our Table was a chance to unite his love of food and cooking with his commitment to the positive development of his pupils. At the same time, Mike’s Table was introduced to InCommon, a charity dedicated to bringing different generations together, and we saw an opportunity for Glossopdale and InCommon to work together.
The idea evolved into hosting an Our Table lunch club at Glossopdale School, where the students would invite residents from local retirement schemes with the help of InCommon. Students would plan, cook, serve a restaurant-quality meal, and then join local older guests for lunch, sharing a meal together around the table. And so the Our Table pilot was born.
Planning the event
First, Simon had to convince the school that this would be a good idea. They signed up immediately, seeing this as an opportunity to engage students who are disengaged from the usual curriculum at school, but who have a lot of potential and a passion for cooking.
Simon and Harriet from InCommon set a date in October. As Autumn begins, when shorter days, colder weather, and potential health challenges can lead to increased isolation and feelings of loneliness for older people.
Then, Harriet began her research in the Glossop area and made contact with McCarthy Stone retirement schemes at Calico Court and Acre Court. She was so pleased that the managers recognised the benefits of the event for the older residents and encouraged them to sign-up as guests.
With the support of the Our Table toolkit, Simon guided his students through every stage of planning and hosting the event. Small things came together quickly. For example, Simon realised the school only had plastic cutlery so a fellow staff member contacted a catering company she knew and this company donated stainless steel cutlery sets for the school to use for this and future events. The students created a delicious seasonal menu for the event that reimagined local dishes and brought a sense of nostalgia for the older guests. The school Art Department got involved with designing the menus, and planned to take photographs and videos to document the event.
The Menu
Main
Cottage Pie with green beans, cauliflower and gravy
Dessert
Vanilla cheesecake with berries
Tea and coffee
The event itself
11 older guests were collected from Calico Court and Acre Court retirement scheme and driven to Glossopdale School. This was organised by Hannah and Harriet from InCommon, who also attended as support to the older guests. Meanwhile, prep was in full swing at the school kitchen, with the pupils really loving catering ‘restaurant-style’ under Simon and the school’s Food-Tech staff’s supervision. The Art Department pupils were busy laying out the dining room. With everything ready to go, the kitchen students welcomed the older guests and everyone sat down to eat, whilst school staff were on hand to serve. These staff were amazed and delighted to see these ‘usually disengaged’ pupils so in their element here.
14 students from Glossopdale School hosted 11 older neighbours from across the two schemes.
The response was overwhelmingly positive, 100% said they would attend another event.
What the older guests loved most:
“Chatting to the girls on our table”
“Everything!”
“Talking to the students”
“The friendly company”
“Cheesecake!”
“Meeting new people”
What the students loved most:
“Cooking food for them and seeing smiles on their faces.”
“The overall experience, the cooking was good but the interactions were the best bit.”
“Making friends and finding out more about them.”
“Chatting.”
Harriet from InCommon:
“I think everyone enjoyed it! There was a real buzz and joyful feeling afterwards. Ivy, one of the ladies said to me 'that really made my day' - and everyone was talking about how negative media perceptions of young people are, and yet they are all so lovely!
The pupils were asked to sum up their experience in three words: this experience made them feel ‘confident’, ‘proud’, and ‘happy’.
Impact
The event demonstrated the impact of sitting and eating together, and the power of sharing food and conversation. Simon observed how the food was a natural starting point for conversation between the two generations, creating meaningful common ground.
The older guests left feeling really valued. They felt more connected to their community and had a renewed confidence to try new things. Spending this time with the teenagers challenged their perceptions about the younger generation, and helped to bridge the generational divide and build community and connection.
The school and the retirement schemes have both shared that they hope to continue this partnership. One scheme manager shared that the older residents have already suggested the students going for a games or craft afternoon. We are excited to see how this evolves!
What We Have Learned about Our Table
The experience of working with Glossopdale School and InCommon has given us a real insight into how each Our Table event will be unique, and will require individually designed support. We love this. We saw the joy Simon took in passing on his chef experience at Mike’s Table. We hope other professional chefs out there are inspired to build something similar.
Simon and the Art Department learned that the venue could have been dressed more like a restaurant to ensure the event was even more special. They have plans to do this in future.
We learned that we could have helped and encouraged InCommon secure more guests from a number of different retirement schemes to provide a broader community of older people. We know from experience that overbooking an event is best. We should have stressed this more.
We learned from InCommon how to measure the impact of the event through feedback, which is invaluable. As Glossopdale School and InCommon are keen to work together again, we will now think about how we can support repeat Our Table events.
We hope Our Table inspires you to host your own event in your community. How could you bring people together to share a delicious meal around the table?
Special thanks
Manchester United Foundation
The staff at Glossopdale School
The McCarthy Stone retirement scheme managers
Harriet and Hannah from InCommon
Simon (who is the brother of Louise, founder of Mike’s Table)
