Reminiscence Afternoons Kick Off Good Memories : Holyrood PR

Tuesday, May 30th, 2017

Press releases

A DUMBARTON very sheltered housing development has taken a trip down memory lane thanks to newly launched ‘Reminiscence Afternoons’.

Tenants at Bield’s Church Court take the time every month to get together and take a step back in time as they fondly remember times gone by.

The afternoons are led by George McKay from Sporting Memories who takes sport as a jumping-off point to get tenants socialising and talking through their pasts.

He said: “I’ve loved visiting Church Court so far and I hope to be coming back for a while yet!

“The idea is to have some user led chatting and socialising inspired by sport – quite often we’ll barely touch on the subject because we get carried away getting to know everyone.

“We make sure everyone is included and it’s always a good laugh.”

Reminiscence afternoons seek to increase engagement and interaction and it have been a resounding success with tenants demanding that the events become a regular occurrence.

Opening up discussion George brings along a spot the ball competition and has introduced a score predictor to help get tenants into the sporting spirit.

Sandra Wilkie, Manager at Church Court, said: “All of our tenants have loved going back in time and we’ve had some fantastic feedback.

“New tenants, in particular, have enjoyed getting to know people who’ve been at Church Court a little longer – it has really brought everyone together.

“It’s great to spend an afternoon talking about their past experiences and just generally getting to know each other a little better.

“We’re always keen to come up with fun and engaging activities, which encourage everyone to socialise, so we were delighted when George suggested we kick things off at Church Court.”

Reminiscence afternoons are a great example of Bield’s ‘Free to Be’ ethos which encourages all service users to make their own choices as much as possible.