Your work will provide new opportunities for engagement and interaction and will help improve individual’s confidence, self-esteem and communication opportunities whilst complementing existing initiatives we already have in place.

Reminiscence activities provide opportunities for stimulation, and re-connection with a sense of self, which is important for the person with dementia, but also their family carers. The “Living Memories” resources can initiate and support meaningful conversations which really help families and their loved ones with dementia to ‘reach each other’ and maintain their loving connections.

It really is a remarkable tool for people to use. Is the plan to market this widely through other avenues, if so,we could look at featuring it on our website or as part of our dementia work.

At the end, one of the gentlemen came to talk to me while I was packing things away and told me he was a washing machine engineer. He told me about the new model that came in and he could remember the sales pitch which they had to learn verbatim. It was indeed a change from our normal sessions and everyone seemed to really enjoy it. I think this would be excellent on 1:1 as well.

The Living Memories project will assist volunteers to provide age-appropriate stimulating activities and there are outcomes not only for individuals (well-being, identity, self-esteem) but also for all members attending the Memory Café, (increased inclusion, cohesion, mutuality, and support).

Extract from email comment received after trial session of Home Sweet Home DVD at Liskeard Memory Café,Cornwall:

B… said not only did three separate couples say it was the best session, but that volunteers really enjoyed it too and felt it was something they would like to do more, learn more about. More importantly perhaps, one of the men who stood up and spoke had never spoken before (at one of our meetings) and he and his wife are both hearing impaired and have not seemed to find it easy to mix in until now (but)… during the DVD reminiscence session they were both animated and talking to others and clearly enjoying themselves.

We have watched the first two clips and found that, with the questions in the book, a lot of reminiscence was sparked. We start the afternoon with one and it takes up quite a lot of the time! We have two members who are only partially sighted, but they don’t let this difficulty stop them enjoying the rest of the chat.

Looking at your amazing work you deserve so much support to promote this fantastic resource.

The Living Memories DVD made a fantastic prize for our monthly #WinningWednesdays competition. Congratulations to the winner!