A New Tredegar care home resident has found social media fame following a video for National Storytelling Week.
Mary Burchell, 84, a resident at White Rose Care Home featured in the special video on the home’s Facebook page as part of the national initiative.
Mary chose to read ‘Hairy Maclary Scattercat’ by Lynley Dodd for National Storytelling Week which sets out to encourage storytelling and reading for people young and old.
Though the book was very different to the style of her childhood favourite, Winnie the Pooh, she recited the book beautifully and received lots of compliments from the page’s followers.
The storytime provided White Rose care home residents with the perfect opportunity to reminisce with each other about their favourite books when they were children. Some of the top favourites included Pippi Longstocking, Swallows and Amazons and Just William.
Reminiscing About the Past
Reminiscence activities play a big part in daily activity plans throughout all our homes, as it gives our residents the chance to engage in meaningful conversation with one another.
Often, for people living with dementia, recent memories are the ones that deteriorate first, therefore spending time talking about earlier memories can help to develop positive feelings, promote inclusion and reduce stress and agitation.
Mary said: “I had a lot of fun reading Hairy Maclary Scattercat to our followers on Facebook. It was a very different style to my childhood favourite, Winnie the Pooh, but it was a very enjoyable story!”
Jane Coburn, home manager at White Rose care home, said: “Celebrating National Storytelling Week is very important to us as a home as it gives us an opportunity to share stories with one another. This can be childhood favourites, adult fiction or even telling our own stories to each other.
“The residents had a lot of fun and we have discovered some fantastic new stories to get stuck into!”
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