News Museum to help create Maidstone Memories for care home residents
Maidstone Museum has successfully been awarded a grant from a Golding Homes Covid-19 Response Fund to set up ‘Maidstone Memories’ sessions within residential homes around the borough, using objects from the museum.
The £1,800 grant is for work specifically with those communities badly hit by the pandemic. Residents of homes for the elderly are likely some of the most isolated of all communities so the Museum’s new sessions have been created to make contact with them and help improve wellbeing.
The residential home chooses either to receive a box of objects which can be handled by residents, these will be quarantined before and after use, or the objects can be shown virtually from the museum.
Evelyn Palmer, Public Programming Manager at Maidstone Museum said:
“The Museum is delighted to have been awarded this grant from Golding Homes and we hope the sessions will give residents the chance to talk about past experiences, bringing back happy memories.“The objects box will include old photographs with themes including transport, home-making, local industry, shops and the rural villages around the town. We hope to run 12 sessions from the end of March which would be free to each residential home.”
Helen Critcher Community Investment Lead at Golding Homes said:
“The last year has been incredibly challenging for everyone, particularly those in residential homes who have often been unable to see their friends and family.“It’s more important now than ever to support our local communities so we are delighted that through our Covid-19 Response Fund we are able to help a local organisation deliver such a creative solution to tackle social isolation during these difficult times.”
Each residential home that takes part will need to have a large screen in a communal area linked to a laptop, with someone to facilitate, so that the museum team can talk to, and with, the residents.
Any residential homes who are interesting in taking part should contact Evelyn Palmer at the Museum on evelynpalmer@Maidstone.gov.uk.