19/01/2026
I watched “The Old Oak” last night and I woke up this morning with it still very much in my thoughts.
A film about loss, displacement and hardship — but also about what can happen when people choose connection over fear. When food is shared, stories are listened to, and empathy is allowed back into spaces shaped by grief.
As I watched it, it really took me back to my years working in children’s services, particularly as a family group conference practitioner. Sitting families around a table — maternal, paternal, often fractured or in conflict — to make some of the biggest decisions of a child’s life. Whether that child would remain in foster care, move into kinship care, or be adopted.
Before those conversations, I’d ask the children and adults to think about what food everyone coming to the meeting liked to eat. We’d share that food together during the planning stage of the meeting. And something always shifted. Tension softened. People listened differently. Plans for the child were made around a table, not across a divide.
That’s what this film echoed for me — that healing and hope don’t come from big gestures, but from opening a door, sharing a meal, and remembering our shared humanity.
Deeply moving. Uncomfortable at times. And a powerful reminder of the quiet ways connection can change everything 🙏
