Alzheimer’s & Dementia – Memory Joggers

Take a ride on the dementia memory train and hear dads story – Dad was born in 1925 – born on a farm, brought up a farmer’s son. He started out on the farm when horses were still working the farm – the horse on the farm was called Prince and Dad even sat on him.  Dad has always loved horses, right up until the present day.

Dads young life

As a young boy he would cycle everywhere around Smarden and to school – playing cricket and  football, he had a busy time.  Although school was quite different back then – he often speaks of the ‘Masters’ and how strict they were.

After my Mum and Dad married they had a florist shop and his love of plants and flowers was a great asset to them.  He told me stories of how he would deliver wreaths on his bicycle & that on one occasion they took £100 and had never seen so much money they took it out of the till and threw it in the air.

Dad’s Farm life

Dad looked after the farm much later in his life I can remember him moving the milk churns on a large trolley that he had to pull to the top of the drive for the tanker to collect.  He loved his dairy herd – knew them all individually.  We had acres of land & even as a child I can remember walking the fields with no cares & and I couldn’t have been 4 years old.  Dad would drive the old Bedford van with the doors open, whistling Roger Whittaker songs.

The Farm-shop and early working life

When I was only about 5 my parents sold the farm and moved to Romney Marsh, buying a market garden, with greenhouses where he grew a main crop of tomatoes. Later he would develop a market in peppers, mange tout, cucumbers, chinese leaf lettuce and other experimental crops along with his old favourite of strawberries.  Mum had a farm shop and together they became a wonderful local business.

When the bank took the business from then when I was a teen, we ended up living in a static caravan – still growing crops, this time only strawberries and Mum, at the largesse of a local farmer setup a Farmshop once again.

My parents, worked hard and developed a lovely small business once again, until they began to take things a little easier with a slight slowdown, only to lose Mum to a stroke.

What happened when Dad came to live with myself and my Daughter Emily

That was 25 years ago.  Dad has been independent and wonderfully resilient, living alone right up until 2011 when he moved in with me.  He had lived for a couple of years close to my sister, but her impending retirement to a quieter life navigating the canals of the North meant our Father would be needing a little more care.

Dementia Onset

Quickly his Dementia became noticeable and there are many tales of duplicate Tesco visits, hikes to Folkestone – precariously crossing the A20 not knowing where he was.  Up in the middle of the night – in bed in the middle of the afternoon.  Returning library books to a non-existent library and that’s before I mention the numerous times he fed the cats and dogs (who loved him desperately for his generosity).

During his time at home with me I endeavoured to tread the care journey with tact and in the last year, employing private carers, (who still visit this great character even now out of love) and obtaining help from KCC with gadgets and gizmos.  Dad had a fabulous ‘Memory Board’ and regular ‘trips down memory lane’ but one of his greatest wishes was to have a train track – after he visited Hornby on a day trip.

Dementia – Memory Train Begins it’s Journey

So I set about getting a table built, with the help of a wonderfully engineered hinge or two and some scenery I put together using Christmas presents from family and some thought along the way a scene with items that might help him and provide talking points along the way.

Featured on the set is:

• A farmhouse
• Some Friesian cows
• Milk churns
• Bicycles
• A summerhouse (which has its own story)
• Greenhouses
• A chapel
• A bank (where he worked as a young man in his first job)
• A florists
• A horse
• An allotment – which he had doted on in my Sister’s village.

The Memory Train has now moved to Dad’s suite in the care home. It proves a wonderful talking point for visitors and even now he asks for a new or different train to run on the tracks.

It stimulates conversation regularly and gives an enjoyable twist to travelling down memory lane. He now sits with me reminiscing over past life and hopefully smiling regularly.

You can see the train track here: Dementia Memory Train

 Read Jacqui’s Blog on  why she wants to oranise the Gala Dance

Dementia Friend Sessions