Reminiscence Services at Hands on Oxfordshire's Heritage (HOOH) and the Museum of Oxford
“Making memories ma er” Reminiscence through heritage using historical objects and documents Who are we? • HOOH (Oxfordshire County Council Museum Service), The Museum of Oxford Reminiscence Project (Oxford City Council), Banbury 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). Par cipants 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 par cipants, and help them to feel good about themselves • To increase par cipants self-esteem and make them feel valued • To combat isola on and create opportuni es for group ac vi es • To capture fascina ng memories before they are lost Par cipants 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 rou ne. 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 posi ve focus for interac on Group leader and par cipants at Westway Day Centre in Oxford • To Increase confidence by using long- term memory. Long term recall is o en far easier for older people with memory difficul es than short term recall. In this way reminiscence sessions can u lise an older persons skills. • To create a sense of empowerment by placing high value on the contribu ons of the par cipants 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 isola on and disorienta on 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 Evalua ng our services • We evaluate our services on a ongoing basis and evalua on reports are available for the Museum of Oxford Reminiscence outreach service, the Head over Heels Intergenera onal Dance project and the HOOH Reminiscence Cra project (external evalua on). Please email [email protected] for copies of the reports • Some of the key observa ons from the HOOH Reminiscence Cra project report included; improvements in par cipants mental health, improved quality of life through being part of a suppor ve group and improved connec ons and communica on 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 s mula ng and gives people ownership of the Museum. • An evalua on toolkit for reminiscence work is available to download at; Oxford Aspire reminiscence evalua on toolkit Reminiscence Training Using our experience in the field of reminiscence, we have devised a training programme for staff who work in residen al, care homes, and other se ngs 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 ac vi es on site at the Museum . Based on our experiences in community based reminiscence we iden fied a need and demand for a regular reminiscence “club” which could meet at our Museums. . Museum of Oxford has “Memory Lane”, The Museum of Oxfordshire has “Those Were The Days” and Banbury Museum has “Times Gone By”. These groups engage with older people who can travel independently to the Museum and are able to engage proac vely 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 cra s 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 genera ons to enjoy. Intergenera onal work
. We have delivered some very successful intergenera onal 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 exhibi on to a rapturous recep on!
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 Morris Motors) we ran a series of seven reminiscence events across Oxford and the County at sites connected to the topic. 274 people a ended and as a result of the events one of our par cipants was interviewed on BBC One on Countryfile ! A Reminiscence session at Oxford Bus Museum in April 2013 • The Morris Motors Centenary reminiscence project was a mul partner project which enabled us to share skills and offer a wide range of opportuni es for par cipants. Partners were Oxfordshire County Council Museum Service, The Oxford Bus Museum, The Oxfordshire History Centre, Modern Art Oxford, MINI Plant Oxford, Banbury Museum, The Na onal Trust and BBC Radio Oxford. Several of the project par cipants 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 exci ng outcome for all of us. • The recent Recipes and Reminiscences project also incorporated an intergenera onal element. A series of 3 intergenera onal 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 compe on. A showcase of this project was on display as part of Museum of Oxford Christmas 2013 display The end result-delicious! Further informa on 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 - Interna onally Renowned for Work in all Areas of Reminiscence •The European Reminiscence Network