Information on Loughborough

Day Care Centre enjoys a taste of Hollywood Glamour

Posted on 31/01/2012

Leicestershire Councty Council Adults & Communities

26 January 2012

Day Care Centre enjoys a taste of Hollywood Glamour

Elderly service users at Victoria Day Care Centre in Loughborough are benefiting from new therapeutic activities being trialled by Leicestershire County Council’s Arts and Outreach service.

The ‘Hollywood Glamour’ sessions are giving participants a taste of Hollywood using museum collections as inspiration.  The innovative sessions have involved making cocktails, dressing as a Hollywood star, sampling pleasant bygone smells, and will end with a nostalgic visit from a Frank Sinatra tribute act.

Leicestershire County Council’s pilot scheme forms part of a series of new sessions being trialled across the county, and heralds a new approach to using museum objects in creative ways. “Memory Plus” combines traditional object-based reminiscence with new therapeutic activities that exploit various art forms including music, movement, drama and sensory stimulation.  

The ‘Hollywood Glamour’ sessions are already showing signs of improving the participants’ health and wellbeing.  One participant commented: "This is great, really enjoyable; it's nice to do something different. Seeing the objects and the pictures [of the film stars] bring back so many wonderful memories".  

Gina Sims, Care Assistant at the centre commented on how impressed she was with the sessions so far.  She said: “Working with people with dementia, I can see what a fabulous opportunity the Memory Plus Project is. It gives participants a chance to relive happy memories which I think is a real benefit for anyone with memory problems.  The activities have helped me to discover aspects of their lives that I had no idea about which can only make our relationship stronger.”

David Sprason, Leicestershire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Adults and Communities, said: “This is a valuable opportunity for elderly people to engage with some of Leicestershire’s varied museum collections with objects that stimulate memory.  It is fantastic that this innovative and creative approach is contributing to the wellbeing of some of Leicestershire’s traditionally hard-to-reach audiences.”

Photo opportunity

Photographers are welcome to attend the “Hollywood Glamour” session on Thursday 2nd February 2012 at 10.45am – 12 noon.  Victoria Day Care Centre, Albert Street, Loughborough, LE11 2DW

Further Information

Museums Collections - http://www.leics.gov.uk/museumcollections.htm