Well we have nearly reached the end of another year and what a year we have had. The Wee Museum of Memory has continued to flourish, welcoming thousands of visitors each week, either locals who pop in regularly to tourists from other parts of the globe.
A regular feature has been the Thursday morning activity group. This started out as a knitting session in 2022 after the December 2021 Lockdown and our plan was to knit squares to make a Wee Museum of Memory blanket. We have not quite managed to finish this off as other activities took over but hopefully we’ll fit in a few ‘knitting and nattering’ sessions in 2023. The group is a mix of some older visitors, but also some new folk who just popped in one day but have now become regulars. Some of the group do have dementia but as a mixed group it is open to anyone.
Once we abandoned the idea of just knitting, we started trying a range of activities: from mannequin decorating and card making, to singing sessions and circus skills. These have all been stimulating and fun; we have learnt new skills and kept our minds busy. Dot led us making cards, Delphine helped us create Origami cranes, Caroline has led us through gentle exercise sessions, and Kat helped us release our inner circus performers and taught us juggling and plate spinning. We decorated two mannequins – and created characters and back stories for Madeleine and Harry! Every month we had a different themed singing sessions: from Scottish and First World War songs to love songs and old-fashoned music hall ones.
We did some sketching, some creative ‘poetry’, discussed our favourite Scottish dialect words (and learnt some new African phrases), played competitive games of Beetle and Christmas bingo, created collages in bowls and Christmas tea-light holders from old jam jars.
These Thursday sessions have been great fun and we have learnt a lot about each other through a combination of the activities and reminiscing. Although we have had a few traditional reminiscence sessions using images or video clips from TV or films, we have reminisced as we have been doing other things – with laughs and fun at the same time. We hope to have a few more ‘guest’ leaders with more circus skills and art and crafting sessions next year but also carry on with some simple crafting sessions – as well as attempting to complete the knitted blanket. A very big thank you to all of those who have come along either to lead a session or to take part.
Wishing you all a happy and healthy Christmas and New Year and we would love to see you at our Thursday group. We start up again on Thursay 19th January 2023, 11.00 in the Wee Museum when we will chat and plan our programme. Come along and join us, bring your ideas and suggestions!