MONDAY 21 FEBRUARY - Arts and Older People with the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust

A most interesting meeting took place today in London jointly hosted by the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust (WCMT) and the Baring Foundation. Its purpose was to hear reports from the 10 individuals who have been travelling the world over the past year on WCMT Travel Fellowships studying the world of "Arts and Older People". As one of the lucky fellows I was able to report on my sabbatical visits in Canada and USA last year and on my plans for my forthcoming second trip to Australia and New Zealand which starts this coming weekend.

We were joined at the meeting today by Dame Joan Bakewell DBE, who until recently was the Government's advisor (Tsarina?) on Older People and who is now an active working peer, spending much of her time holding the Government to account in the House of Lords.


In the picture, standing in front of an original work of art by Sir Winston Churchill himself, are the 2010/11 WCMT "Arts and Older People" Fellows. Seated are Suzi Digby, WCMT Council Member, Jamie Balfour, Director General WCMT, Dame Joan Bakewell and David Cutler, Chief Executive of the Baring Foundation.

The reports from fellows were without exception fascinating and together the experiences and lessons learned from these travelling fellows are providing a rich body of learning that will do much to help our efforts across the UK to promote the importance of the Arts in all their forms in enriching and supporting the lives of older people. We discussed drama, music, singing, visual arts, art therapy, reminiscence and memory work as well as my own pet themes of storytelling and, from my Canadian experience, drumming for the brain. Reports on all the fellowships will be published later this year. There is clear evidence that the amount of art related activity in older people's services is improving but much more is needed. This is a real challenge in these straightened economic times.

The great news is that this programme has proved to be such a success that the WCMT has decided to continue to fund the "Arts and Older People" programme for a further three years for 2012/13, 13/14 and 14/15 with 10 Fellowships to be awarded each year. This will allow further in depth study of work already undertaken together with new and innovative proposals related to the programme theme. The partnership between WCMT and the Baring Foundation will help to ensure that a significant amount of voluntary sector support will be provided for this important work.

For further information see www.wcmt.org.uk and www.baringfoundation.org.uk.

Location:London