Hidden talent in St. Ives

Memory cafes in Cornwall are making the most of the opportunity of a free activity for their members, provided by the project.  Earlier, in February, we were invited to the St. Ives Memory Cafe group where we hosted a summer bulb planting activity.

If you're familiar with Sensory Trust activities you may realise that this is no ordinary bulb planting activity.  The aim was to help people to engage with each other, to share memories and to connect with nature.  This activity involves (besides the obvious bulb planting!) people displaying memories associated with being outside around a plant pot before planting a bulb in it.  It's a great activity to do on a rainy day with both spring and summer flowering bulbs.  People engage through shared memories and by creating new ones which gives them the opportunity to look forward instead of always looking back.

We sprayed the pots with a base paint first so that they had a background colour to begin with.  People used paints, images cut from magazines and different materials to represent their chosen memory.  Once the paint dried, they filled their pots with compost and planted them with a  mixture of Liatris and Acidanthera bulbs (about 3 per pot) before writing their memory on a 'flag' and popping it in the pot to act as an aide memoire until their bulbs begin to grow.

Everyone was given an information sheet with images of the bulbs in flower, advice on where and when to plant outside and when to bring them in for the winter (if necessary).

People can connect to nature in so many ways;

.......as the bulbs grow memories help connect people to the plant

There is always a buzz around this activity. Even rummaging through the magazine images creates opportunity for other stories and memories to surface; it all helps to stimulate conversation and so often people leave having learnt something new about someone else.....or even themselves as they discover hidden talent they didn't know they had!

Activities like this one demonstrate that creativity doesn't recognise dementia as an obstacle to social engagement and self-expression.  It's one part of the brain that is least affected by the disease and we should be making the most of it, along with people's intrinsic connection with nature, to help people with dementia enjoy a good quality of life.  

Wendy 

Creative Spaces Project Manager