Reminiscence Services at Hands on 's Heritage (HOOH) and the of

“Making memories maer” Reminiscence through heritage using historical objects and documents Who are we? • HOOH (Oxfordshire County Council Museum Service), The Reminiscence Project (Oxford City Council), Museum and Oxford Aspire work in partnership to provide reminiscence services and projects across Oxford and Oxfordshire. • HOOH began delivering outreach reminiscence sessions in 2003 to daycentres for older people in Oxfordshire. • In 2009 a reminiscence service was set up at the Museum of Oxford to provide a service for to older people living in the city. • Currently we deliver 350 reminiscence sessions to 4357 older people per year across Oxford and Oxfordshire (2013 figures). Parcipants in “All dressed up” reminiscence session trying on hats at an Age UK Lunch Club in Oxford Why reminiscence ? • To celebrate the personal experiences of the parcipants, and help them to feel good about themselves • To increase parcipants self-esteem and make them feel valued • To combat isolaon and create opportunies for group acvies • To capture fascinang memories before they are lost Parcipants enjoying themselves at Westway Day Centre in Oxford • To assist carers in learning more about the individual and to help to complete the life story component of the person centred planning process • To provide a pleasurable break from roune. Caring tasks can be very laborious and stressful. Reminiscence gives carers a fresh insight into the lives of the people they care for and a creates a posive focus for interacon Group leader and parcipants at Westway Day Centre in Oxford • To Increase confidence by using long- term memory. Long term recall is oen far easier for older people with memory difficules than short term recall. In this way reminiscence sessions can ulise an older persons skills. • To create a sense of empowerment by placing high value on the contribuons of the parcipants to the Museum and Heritage Archives • To create enjoyment and fun! ‘Objects can lead to a valuable session of shared memories, and can reduce the isolaon and disorientaon that many elderly people feel’*

*Helen Clark et al. Oral History and Reminiscence in Lothian, Journal of the Oral History society, Autumn 1989, 35-42, p.37 Evaluang our services • We evaluate our services on a ongoing basis and evaluaon reports are available for the Museum of Oxford Reminiscence outreach service, the Head over Heels Intergeneraonal Dance project and the HOOH Reminiscence Cra project (external evaluaon). Please email [email protected] for copies of the reports • Some of the key observaons from the HOOH Reminiscence Cra project report included; improvements in parcipants mental health, improved quality of life through being part of a supporve group and improved connecons and communicaon between group members as a result of shared the experience. • We have also organized a focus group for Group Leaders. Some of the feedback included; great that the Museum could go out people too frail visit, sessions were smulang and gives people ownership of the Museum. • An evaluaon toolkit for reminiscence work is available to download at; Oxford Aspire reminiscence evaluaon toolkit Reminiscence Training Using our experience in the field of reminiscence, we have devised a training programme for staff who work in residenal, care homes, and other sengs for frail elderly people. •We operate an object loan box scheme for local nursing homes to enable them to carry out reminiscence work with their residents. •For further details on this scheme Tel: 01865 300639 Email: [email protected] Reminiscence acvies on site at the Museum . Based on our experiences in community based reminiscence we idenfied a need and demand for a regular reminiscence “club” which could meet at our . . Museum of Oxford has “Memory Lane”, The Museum of Oxfordshire has “Those Were The Days” and has “Times Gone By”. These groups engage with older people who can travel independently to the Museum and are able to engage proacvely in reminiscence projects Memory Lane • Memory Lane was set up in 2010 at the Museum of Oxford. It is very popular with over 200 people on the mailing list. The group have reminisced about topics including the Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford Industry, hobbies and cras and Oxford Events. Each session is recorded and put onto a CD for group members to share. A copy of the recording is stored at the Oxfordshire History Centre (Oxfordshire County Archive) for future generaons to enjoy. Intergeneraonal work

. We have delivered some very successful intergeneraonal projects. . The Head Over Heels Dance project involved primary school children and older people working together in a dance project based on shared memories of hats and shoes. This was performed at the launch event of our Head Over Heels exhibion to a rapturous recepon!

Linking reminiscence to local events and anniversaries • 2013 marked the centenary of the car industry in Oxford. To mark the occasion and to celebrate the life of Lord Nuffield (William Morris- the founder of ) we ran a series of seven reminiscence events across Oxford and the County at sites connected to the topic. 274 people aended and as a result of the events one of our parcipants was interviewed on BBC One on Countryfile ! A Reminiscence session at Oxford Museum in April 2013 • The Morris Motors Centenary reminiscence project was a mulpartner project which enabled us to share skills and offer a wide range of opportunies for parcipants. Partners were Oxfordshire County Council Museum Service, The , The Oxfordshire History Centre, , Plant Oxford, Banbury Museum, The Naonal Trust and BBC Radio Oxford. Several of the project parcipants were interviewed for a radio documentary was produced the celebrate the Centenary of car manufacture in Oxford. The programme was aired on BBC Radio Oxford in December 2013. This was a really excing outcome for all of us. • The recent Recipes and Reminiscences project also incorporated an intergeneraonal element. A series of 3 intergeneraonal cookery sessions were delivered at a local primary school with a class of 8yr olds and members of our Memory Lane group. Each older person teamed up with 2 children to make Coconut Pyramids in a “Bake Off” style compeon. A showcase of this project was on display as part of Museum of Oxford Christmas 2013 display The end result-delicious! Further informaon can be found on the following websites •Museum of Oxford - learning and reminiscence •Learning at Oxfordshire Museums | Oxfordshire County Council •Banbury Museum – Seniors •Age Exchange - Internaonally Renowned for Work in all Areas of Reminiscence •The European Reminiscence Network