Lest We Forget 2

Following on from yesterday's piece about the launch of Mackenzie Thorpe's Lest We Forget, I'm really excited at the prospect of working with veterans' care provider Erskine.

They are a Scottish based charity and have a total of 137 beds dedicated to ex-Service personnel with dementia including the Erskine Park Home, a 40 bed specialist dementia home.  Erskine operate five care homes with a mostly male population. We are starting the project with them shortly and final details on the groups and evaluation will be announced soon.

You can sign up for e-newsletters on our website to keep up to date with the very latest developments.

Another Veterans related item to flag up is the Chelsea Auto Legends on Sunday 2nd September

CEO of the event,  Max Wakefield is a supporter of the Sporting Memories Network. Chelsea Auto Legends takes place in the grounds of The Royal Hospital, Chelsea. The event raises funds for its chosen charities, Walking with the Wounded and the Chelsea Pensioners and has an impressive list of supporters from the world of motorsport.

I'm going along to CAL with my fellow founding director Chris Wilkins. During the day we will have roving microphones capturing memories from fans and stars to contribute to Replay Motorsport.

Rumour has it summer is finally on its way, so hopefully see you there!

Full details and advance tickets  www.chelseaautolegends.com

Lest We Forget

Yesterday I went to the Arthaus Gallery in Richmond, North Yorkshire

The gallery houses the works of the renowned international artist Mackenzie Thorpe, who is a supporter of our work with people with dementia. In 2003, Middlesbrough born Mackenzie produced a collection around football and the community called 'The Game of Life'. Introducing the collection, Mackenzie wrote: "Whatever your age, whatever your background, the magic of football goes far beyond the pitch. I invite you to remember the moments when the game has had a lasting effect on your life, of how it has brought friends together, united whole communities, even countries.

Mackenzie's support and our work on football memories was a headline of the Northern Echo during Dementia Awareness week in June, the headline banner of the front page read "Stirring Memories; Mackenzie Thorpe backs dementia project" with a piece by health correspondent Barry Nelson titled Drawing on football memories to help dementia sufferers

Mackenzie has loaned four pictures to be used in the football reminiscence work. The original of When Grandad was a Lad (opposite) was purchased by UEFA to mark their 50th anniversary and a copy was presented to every club to have won a European trophy since 1954. 

We recently announced the network is commencing a new project in Scotland with care homes for veterans run by Erskine. On a similar theme, Mackenzie will this weekend be unveiling his latest work 'Lest We Forget'   the original of which, will be auctioned at The Royal British Legion Annual Poppy Ball in November with a percentage of sales of the limited edition print also going to the charity.

I'll be attending the launch and look forward to reporting back on the event.

Meanwhile the number of football memories and sports reminiscence groups operating in Scotland continues to grow, with 16 now established.

www.sportingmemoriesnetwork.com

Lest We Forget. Copyright Mackenzie Thorpe