London care homes take residents on culinary remininscence journey

Residents at three Sanctuary Group care homes in London enjoyed celebratory culinary-themed summer shows based on their own life stories and memories, as part of Sanctuary’s two-year creative arts programme, Shine!

The performances, which took place at The Manse Residential Care Home in South Norwood, Riverlee Residential and Nursing Home in Greenwich and St John’s House Residential Care Home in Streatham, were the culmination of a series of workshops delivered to the homes’ residents by an international youth arts organisation called Phakama, which has developed an intergenerational Edible Garden Project.

Phakama’s work at the Sanctuary Care homes is part of Shine!, a national two-year arts programme funded by the Sanctuary Group, which uses creative arts to encourage the talents of residents across the organisation’s 61 homes.

Rebecca Sowle, Riverlee home manager, spoke for the care homes when she said: “It’s been a wonderful reminiscence activity for our residents, with many of them sharing memories of food, journeys and experiences from days gone by.”

Residents at each home experienced what was literally a ‘moving performance’, in that all participants walked through different areas within the care home and its gardens.

All events were a spectacle of colour and costume and delicious food was served throughout the performances, which were based on residents’ food memories.

Since mid-June 2014 volunteers from Phakama and local students have been visiting residents at the care homes to engage them in workshops, including singing, percussion playing and song-writing, movement, dance and storytelling, planting, cooking and visual art.

The workshops have brought together together older and younger generations in shared activities to exchange stories, life experiences, dreams and aspirations while growing a vegetable patch in the homes’ gardens.

Corinne Micallef, Phakama’s artistic director, said: “Bringing together the residents and students to create art has been extraordinary. It has been truly touching to see the connections made between the generations and to witness the compassion and vibrancy present during their workshops together.”

Phakama is a youth arts organisation which believes that individuals’ stories have the power to move, challenge and inform. Through community initiatives, such as The Edible Garden Project, Phakama creates shared spaces for people to express, grow and perform.

Established in 1969, Sanctuary Group is responsible for the provision of social housing, care and management services across England and Scotland. It owns or operates 98,000 units of accommodation and employs around 11,000 people.