Suitcase Stories

by mDesign

Building on the success of the last reminiscence and arts project in care homes in Wychavon, Suitcase stories enabled 77 adults living with dementia and their carers in six Worcestershire locations to relive memories from the 40s, 50s and 60s using objects from Museums Worcestershire handling collection. The themes of the objects were work, holidays, hair and beauty, family and nature and all of the objects came in suitcases. From these memories new stories about Worcestershire’s past have been sourced and written. These were performed in six local dementia cafes by a professional storyteller Gavin Young and musician Gemma Young and were recorded by Ade Holbrook for audio uses. These activities will enable Museums Worcestershire to reach out to more audiences. They will also have a lasting new resource through the cd’s and podcasts created. Tickets were £2 per person per week which included refreshments.

The workshops took place for 6 weeks at each project across the County;

Malvern Cube, Malvern  from October 2016

The Commandery, Worcester from October  2016

Avoncroft Museum, Bromsgrove from October 2016

The Museum of Carpet, Kidderminster-Mondays from 6 February 2017 10am to 12 noon

Forge Mill museum, Redditch-Mondays from 6 February 2017 from 2-4pm

Evesham Library-Thursdays from 9 February 2017 from, 12-2pm

The first three recordings of the stories from, Malvern, Worcester and Bromsgrove are here

All six of the stories are here 

The project was supported by Arts Council England, The Elmley Foundation, Worcestershire County Council, Worcestershire Arts Partnership, Malvern Hills DC, Wychavon DC, Bromsgrove and Redditch BC, Wyre Forest DC, Worcester City DC

Inclusively Anjali

by mDesign

We ran contemporary dance workshops over the summer holidays for children and young people with additional needs or a disability thanks to funding from Arts Council England and Stratford Lions. In partnership with Entrust Care Partnership participants worked with 2 dancers from Anjali Dance Company who specialise in performing contemporary dance with adults with learning disabilities. They explored new skills and made new friends and worked towards a celebratory performance at Warwick Hall, Warwick School on 1st August. There was a refresher day on 29 October also and a visit to Anjali’s dance show at Warwick Arts Centre. It was a wonderful project and everyone had a great time.

Feedback from the parents and children and young people

He had “more confidence, he can do things without me staying to support”

“It lets her be herself and make friends. She gets excited to attend.”

“J loved the workshops. It has helped J to form some special relationships without my having to be present.”

“It was amazing he came to the first day and wanted to come back.  He has learnt to follow instructions from people he is not familiar with. I feel more confident to try new things with him”

“J came home positive, energised. He choreographed the final dance routine and made up a visual programme of all the dances.”

Suitcase Stories Warwickshire

by mDesign

We were awarded funding from South Warwickshire CCG and Warwickshire County Council to run 10 weeks of reminiscence and music workshops for people living with dementia and their carers at Alcester and Kenilworth libraries. Orchestra of the Swan were our musicians and Warwickshire Reminiscence Action Project provided our handling objects and reminiscence workers. Each week was a different theme from work, school, holidays and dressing up and going out etc! The musicians played music based on the theme and encouraged people to sing along and dance. The handling objects sparked memories also from the 40’s, 50′ and 60’s. There was also a chance to socialise with others over a cup of tea and biscuits.

Alcester library from 10.30am to 12.30pm and Kenilworth library from 2-4pm

Thursdays 2,9,16,23,30 May 6,13 June 4,11,18 July 2019

SUITCASE STORIES 2

by mDesign

Suitcase Stories 2 is an 18 month reminiscence and music project for people living with dementia and their carers in the Wyre Forest, Redditch, Bromsgrove and Wychavon districts running from November 2018 to September 2020.

During the life of the project there was 63 fortnightly community sessions in Evesham, Kidderminster and Redditch at museums and community centres, 60 sessions in care homes, 12 monthly music workshops at The Artrix in Bromsgrove, CPD training for the lead artists, mentoring for 3 students or early career musicians and a symposium in March 2020 for the arts, health and museum sector. (postponed until a later date)

The artists were Heather Wastie, Deborah Rose and Tristan Pate. They each composed at least three new songs from the reminiscences which were recorded and are available online. They also performed them at 3 dementia cafes and at the symposium. A short documentary film was made to help evaluate the project alongside a full evaluation of the outcomes of the project.

The fortnightly sessions were on Monday’s at The Museum of Carpet, Kidderminster 10.30am-12.30pm, Forge Mill Museum, Redditch Monday’s 2.30pm-4.30pm and Wallace House Community Centre Fridays 10.30am to 12.30pm. £2.50 a session (to include refreshments) community sessions leaflet (these have finished for now)

The monthly sessions were on 2nd Tuesday of the month from 1.30pm to 2.45pm costs £2.50 a session (to include refreshments)Music Dementia Workshops leaflet 2018 (these have finished for now)

All sessions were accompanied by a carer or family member.

We had 3 music students or early career musicians that were mentored by the lead artists for 4 month periods. If you are interested in community music and working with people living with dementia in a care home or community setting get in touch as there will be more opportunities. More information is here mentoring advert

Also we worked with volunteers at our monthly and fortnightly sessions. We are always looking for more volunteers to help with other projects. Contact Jenny for more information.Volunteer job description

We also have a FREE online symposium about the project with films from all of our speakers and a link to the full evaluation report. Hear from the artists, project manager/evaluator, participants, reminiscence worker and Museums Worcestershire’s Learning Manager. There was also a Zoom Q and A session about the project on 29th September from 10.30am to midday. The recording of this is on the Symposium web page. Click here for the symposium .

This project was generously funded by Arts Council, Elmley Foundation, Bransford Trust, Wyre Forest District Council, Redditch Borough Council, Bromsgrove District Council, Worcestershire County Council, Wyre Forest Legion Trust, John Martins Trust and Museums Worcestershire.

See the short documentary about this project here

Listen to the new songs created from the memories here

If you want further information contact Jenny Davis, Project Manager  jenny@artsuplift.co.uk 07946 585978