10 Years of memories at Corn Exchange Newbury Memory Café

The Corn Exchange Newbury has hosted reg­u­lar monthly Memory Cafés for more than 10 years, with the first ses­sion tak­ing place in Janu­ary 2015.

Since then, these ses­sions have become a val­ued and import­ant part of the our pro­gramme for people liv­ing with demen­tia, offer­ing cre­at­ive and social engage­ment through a wide range of artist-led activ­it­ies as part of the fun­ded Age­ing Cre­at­ively pro­gramme, sup­por­ted by the National Lot­tery Com­munity Fund.

Over the years, we have been proud to develop a long-stand­ing part­ner­ship with Berkshire Music Trust, whose musi­cians have delivered enga­ging music ses­sions for the past five years, along­side work­shops led by visual artists and move­ment prac­ti­tion­ers.

We have also worked closely with the Fair Close Day Centre, con­nect­ing with their lunch clubs, and have estab­lished links with local schools through a series of spe­cial intergen­er­a­tional ses­sions involving recep­tion-age chil­dren.

Throughout this time, we have been greatly sup­por­ted by Demen­tia Friendly West Berkshire, help­ing to ensure our ses­sions remain con­nec­ted to wider local activ­ity while also con­trib­ut­ing to demen­tia aware­ness train­ing for staff and volun­teers.

Thanks to the suc­cess of the Big Give fun­drais­ing cam­paign we are delighted to be able to con­tinue the Memory Café pro­gramme through to 2027, and extend our sin­cere thanks to every­one who sup­por­ted the project.

Along­side the Memory Café, we have also intro­duced a pro­gramme of Demen­tia Friendly film screen­ings, held monthly on the second Wed­nes­day of each month in the Corn Exchange Cinema. These screen­ings offer a wel­com­ing and relaxed envir­on­ment, includ­ing a hot drink, an inter­val and adapt­a­tions designed to cre­ate a demen­tia friendly cinema exper­i­ence.

We look for­ward to con­tinu­ing to wel­come mem­bers of the local com­munity liv­ing with demen­tia and their carers to a reg­u­lar space where they can meet oth­ers, share exper­i­ences, sing, cre­ate, reflect and feel sup­por­ted in a safe and wel­com­ing envir­on­ment.

The next Memory Café will take place on Wed­nes­day 17 June, in the Corn Exchange Bal­cony Bar.