Great news! The Haddington Good Memories Cafe returns after its summer holidays. The next Cafe is on Friday 25 September 2pm – 4pm. Hooray!
The Cafe ran for the first time last year and has been a great success and we’re all looking forward to its return – it’s been missed!
The cafe runs every month and is a chance for Haddington’s seniors to get up close and personal with Museum objects and photos, have a good sing, listen to stories and play games. The cafe is fun and a chance to spend time with friends and loved ones, but it’s also great for stimulating memory and getting those conversations going. No respectable cafe is without cake and yes cake is a feature of the Good Memories Cafe. Many thanks to the kind volunteers who bake, more helpers are always welcome!
To date the cafe has been delightfully entertained by traditional Scots singer Rena Gertz. Rena is fluent in Gaelic and last year won a Mod medal. Storyteller Tim Porteus and a musican friend Alan have also entertained guests, everyone joined in with Auld Lang Syne.
There’s the chance to look at photos from the Local History collection showing different parts of East Lothian over the last 60 years or so – this gets the conversation flowing! There was also chance to handle objects and try on replica costumes. Guests were delighted to see an old-fashioned telephone, with dial, strange to think some young folk don’t really know what it’s for…..
Other activities have included a tour of the museum exhibition to see new displays of wedding, christening and mourning dresses and items from East Lothian’s food and drink industry, including a giant pipette from Glenkinchie.
The cafe started after last year’s Luminate Festival event which celebrates creative ageing. Helen Bleck from the John Gray Centre and Claire Johnston from Haddington Library got their heads together and came up with the idea for cafe in the Museum. The plan now is that the cafe will be run by volunteers.
Helen from the John Gray Centre is hoping that the cafe will be a place that local older people from across the community will come along to. The cafe is dementia friendly which means that people with dementia are welcomed and included along with every else. Husbands, wives and family are welcome too so they too can enjoy sharing memories with their loved ones.
There’s lots of ways you can get involved and help us keep the cafe going! If you want to know more pop into the John Gray Centre and have a word with Helen and her colleagues, she’ll be delighted to see you!
See more at: John Gray Centre website!
Sue