Memories of a life well travelled on show at home and abroad

Published by Oliver Kinbrum for Sanctuary Housing Association in Health and also in Housing

A Woolwich care home is displaying a tapestry representing the story of a group of Asian residents’ lives and the journey from their homeland to the UK.

The tapestry will then be sent on a jet setting European Trip as it is toured in both Finland and Barcelona in November and December as part of a European Reminiscence Network (ERN) project, before returning home in January 2012.

At the start of this year Sanctuary Care’s Ashgreen House, in conjunction with the Memorial Hospital Community Mental Health Team and the ERN, set up a reminiscence group specifically for Asian Elders. The intention was to run the group for six weeks with a possibility of an extension to 12 weeks.

The Sandbach Place home sent letters to the relatives of their clients in their native language and employed the services of three interpreters to assist with translation from Punjabi, Gujerati, Bengali, Hindi and Urdu during the sessions. The group proved very popular and in the end ran for five months, exceeding expectations by several weeks.

At the sessions residents were encouraged to discuss their journeys throughout their lives which had brought them to the UK including their childhood and school days, leaving their country of birth and settling, raising children and growing old in England, with many sharing similar experiences. The group then came together with the help of ERN artist Madhumita Bose to produce a beautiful, hand-made wall tapestry which tells each member’s life story.

Philip Smith, the manager of Ashgreen House, said: “I’d like to thank all the staff and partner groups who have helped make this possible. We believe this is the first time a group like this has been set up for Asian Elders and we were all rather taken aback by just how popular the group proved to be.

“Many of the members had shared similar experiences throughout their lives which helped to trigger memories in others which might otherwise have remained ‘locked away’ and we are really pleased that, thanks to the group, we have been able to record the life of one particular resident who is unable to speak due to a stroke.

”Reminiscence therapy is something we are looking to continually integrate into the care of our residents, with previous reminiscence projects including the building of an old-fashioned sweet shop in the home.”

Sanctuary’s Director of Care, Len Merton, added: “This kind of creative thinking, partnership working and excellence in delivery represents exactly what Sanctuary Care stands for and strives for.

“Philip and his team and our partner organisations should be congratulated for arranging this fantastic reminiscence group, which has not only been of great benefit to its members but has also produced a beautiful piece of artwork which is a lasting testament to their lives.”