Thanks for the memories

TOY cars, old records and holiday buckets and spades are helping dementia patients roll back the sands of time with a new initiative by local arts organisation arthur+martha.

TOY cars, old records and holiday buckets and spades are helping dementia patients roll back the sands of time with a new initiative by local arts organisation arthur+martha.

As part of a major drive to turn Oldham into a dementia-friendly community, the experimental organisation is using items donated by Gallery Oldham to establish a treasure trove of prompts to trigger memories.

Funded by the Baring Foundation — a charitable organisation set up in 1969 to give money to charities and voluntary organisations pursuing charitable purposes — the Making Memories programme has visited care homes, carers groups and faith organisations and struck up conversations around pieces of memorabilia.

Participants are then encouraged to create a piece of art, craft or poetry to re-connect with their past and leave mementoes for the future.

“Objects can be powerful memory jogs” said Phil Davenport, who co-directs arthur+martha with artist Lois Blackburn.

“If you think of a pop record, the song and its sleeve instantly conjure a period of time.

“A bucket and spade can bring back sandcastles made in Blackpool in the 1930’s.”

To find out more about arthur+martha, visit http://arthur-and-martha.blogspot.co.uk
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