Writers give a voice to care home residents

Lisburn based poet Shelley Tracey and writer Gary Wilson have joined forces with c21 Theatre Company to give a voice to residents of care homes in Northern Ireland.
Gary WilsonGary Wilson
Gary Wilson

‘Through The Glass’ The Reminiscence Project creatively interacts with residents stimulating conversations and encouraging them to share stories from their past.

A selection of these stories will be developed into theatrical films and shared with residents and councils.

“As one of the writers on c21 Theatre Company’s Reminiscence Project, my role was to work with selected care homes in Northern Ireland getting memories and stories of days gone by from the residents,” explained Gary, who is based in Lisburn. “The themes for the stories were Going out, Home and Work and with help from local museums including the Irish Linen Museum in Lisburn, who provided us with loan boxes which contained items that the residents might identify with, we got some amazing tales from the residents which I then worked into short scripts which would then be filmed ready for broadcast on c21’s you tube channel through November and December.

Shelley TraceyShelley Tracey
Shelley Tracey

“Being part of a project like this is an incredible and humbling experience. Once the scripts were written I was able to spend a day watching the filming take place, watch the magic come to life before my eyes, as the stories took shape.

“We have an incredible team involved in this project, one that is totally committed to bringing the stories of a bygone era to life, bringing to the screen characters that our audience will relate to and remember with a fondness. It’s been a true honour to work on this project, and it’s one I hope will grow and who knows appear on a stage near you in the future as well as a screen.”

Poet Shelley Tracey also took part in the project, which launched online this week. “I was really delighted to be involved in this project,” she said. “I wrote a poem on each of the five themes for the films, on school days, going out, community, work and home.

“I put the poems together from the stories and experiences of the residents in the care homes, using their own words. I also did background research on the places and incidents referred to, learnt a lot, and had a great time.

“It was very exciting to hear the actors reciting my poems. I hope that when people hear these poems in the films, they will recognise and value the experiences of older people in our society. It was all down to the Activities Coordinator in the care homes to help people to tell their stories. We sent them some questions which they could ask, and some memory boxes with objects from the past as a prompt for stories. They did a fantastic job, and it was so heartwarming to see how much they valued this opportunity to involve their residents in the arts.

“The project is so inspiring and worthwhile. It’s wonderful to think that it’s bringing the arts to people in care homes in these difficult times.”

The first film was released this week and c21 Theatre Company will release one each week on their Youtube channel. Find out more at www.c21theatrecompany.com.