Another really good turnout and positive reception at our second reminiscence session. As I couldn't make it, the session was overseen entirely by Shapla and run by the project volunteers (as it was, really, on the first session as well).
Shapla describes that, "We had sixteen participants, of whom ten were service users, with three volunteers, two staff volunteers, and one UEL student also in the session. We continued with the same activities as yesterday in two groups. The sessions were led by volunteers who shared their responsibilities between each other. We started off with an introduction followed by the ice breaker questions. A few people were not very confident and needed prompting. After this we did the smell activity; they did not easily identify some of the smells, but could relate them to smells from home. Smells reminded someone of the perfume, which she used in her teenage years, that came in a little bottle. The smell would last the whole day and she loved it very much. Following this we did the picture activities. The service users were unable to identify Green Street, and they were surprised at how different it was from before. Some individuals remembered the shops that were there but which do not exist anymore. They could identify most of the flowers and were reminded of the flowers used in their puja. They also shared memories of when they were children seeing elders sitting around making and smoking shisha. From the feedback we identified that they enjoyed the sessions and would like to experience similar sessions."
Participant Feedback
- "Do more sessions like this. Good for memory."
- "I enjoyed remembering things whilst smelling the items in the cups."
- "I liked everything about the session."
- "Time of the session should be extended."