News / National dementia award
A LOCAL art project for people with dementia has gained national recognition after winning a national award at a ceremony in Glasgow on Thursday.
When I Paint I Remember, a joint enterprise between Alzheimer Scotland, NHS Shetland and Shetland Museum and Archives, won the Scottish Dementia Awards’ most innovative partnership category.
Local dementia worker Ann Williamson said the project, which began this spring, was designed to cater for “people who had artistic backgrounds, and were interested in doing art, who lived with dementia but had no opening or chance to engage in artistic pursuits”.
The group meets monthly at the museum in Lerwick and is led by two volunteer artists, one of whom – Lilian Pedley – was also present at Thursday’s ceremony.
A thrilled Williamson said: “It’s not just about painting, but also art appreciation – looking at the exhibitions that are on as well – but it’s amazing how painting can get folk back in touch with things they did years ago and stimulate memories.
“It’s been really, really successful in encouraging social inclusion and peer support, and we’ve also had young people from one of the high schools come and help.”
She paid tribute to dementia nurse Alan Murdoch of NHS Shetland and Yvonne Reynolds from the museum for their efforts in making the project such a success.
Become a member of Shetland News
Shetland News is asking its many readers to consider paying for membership to get additional features and services: -
- Remove non-local ads;
- Bookmark posts to read later;
- Exclusive curated weekly newsletter;
- Hide membership messages;
- Comments open for discussion.
If you appreciate what we do and feel strongly about impartial local journalism, then please become a member of Shetland News by either making a single payment, or setting up a monthly, quarterly or yearly subscription.
Already a member? Sign in to hide this message.
