Heritage and Culture Warwickshire’s (HCW) ReCollections Dementia Café is delighted to announce it has bagged £4000 from Tesco’s Bags of Help community grant scheme.Millions of shoppers have v...
Heritage and Culture Warwickshire’s (HCW) ReCollections Dementia Café is delighted to announce it has bagged £4000 from Tesco’s Bags of Help community grant scheme.
Millions of shoppers have voted in Tesco stores up and down the country and it can now be revealed that Recollections Dementia Café has been awarded £4000.
The ReCollections sessions take place once a month at Market Hall Museum when it is closed to the general public. Participants can relax in a calm environment and take part in tailored artist-led activities, museum tours and object handling alongside games and refreshments.
The sessions are inspired by the seasons or Warwickshire’s rich heritage and have included:
- Planting spring bulbs;
- Playing with vintage toys and games;
- Learning about the Warwick Mop Fair and eating popcorn;
- Churning ice-cream by hand; and
- Making Christmas puddings to a traditional recipe.
The families of current attendees have said:
“It was good to see the collection and jog memories and to have such a lovely building used for such an event”
“It’s brilliant to see her participate when I didn’t think she would. Really innovative sessions.”
We always come away feeling positive”
Bags of Help, which is run in partnership with environmental charity Groundwork, sees grants awarded to thousands of local community projects every year. Since launching in 2015, it has provided more than £79 million to over 26,000 local community projects
This programme is not part of HCWs core service so this funding will pay for staff to plan and deliver every session, all materials and 3 visiting artists (a musician, dancer and poet) throughout the year.
Receiving the maximum funding of £4000 will also enable HCW to develop a loan box service that can be hired by local community groups, care homes and individuals. These loan boxes will be designed to be multi-sensory and dementia friendly and could include museum/archival items; books and music; and craft, cookery or reminiscence activities.
Cllr Heather Timms, Portfolio Holder – Environment and Heritage and Culture said:
“We are thrilled to have won this money and would like to thank everyone that voted for our dementia café, this is a relatively new project for us and we are looking forward to being able to expand the service to reach more people.”
Voting ran in Tesco stores throughout May and June with customers choosing which local project they would like to get the top award using a token given to them at the checkout. Tesco customers get the chance to vote for three different groups each time they shop. Every other month, when votes are collected, three groups in each of Tesco’s regions are awarded funding.
Alec Brown, Tesco’s Head of Community, said: “Bags of Help contributes funds to community projects up and down the country and we’ve been overwhelmed by the response from customers voting in their local stores. We’re looking forward to seeing more projects brought to life.”
Groundwork’s National Chief Executive, Graham Duxbury, said:
“Bags of Help continues to enable local communities up and down Britain to improve the local spaces and places that matter to them. The diversity of projects that are being funded shows that local communities have a passion to create something great in their area. We are pleased to be able to be a part of the journey and provide support and encouragement to help local communities thrive.”
In addition, to mark Tesco’s 100th year, they have announced two special voting rounds, Tesco Bags of Help Centenary Grants, taking place in store now with larger grant amounts available over wider geographic regions. Please look online for more information on if they can support your group either through the normal Bags of Help vote or Tesco Bags of Help Centenary Grants and don’t forget to vote in store.
The ReCollections Dementia café runs every 2nd Monday of the month 2pm – 3.30pm at Market Hall so if anyone is interested in coming along get in touch. Call 01926 412501 to find out more.
More information about the Heritage and Culture Warwickshire Recollections Dementia Cafe is available on the Warwickshire Website: http://heritage.warwickshire.gov.uk/recollections-dementia-cafe/