Our
mid-month café took place on 16th July – a memorable date for anyone
interested in space travel, for this was the 49th anniversary of the
launch of Apollo 11, which was followed four days later by man’s first steps on
the moon! In honour of this momentous event, our word-search had a ‘Moon
Landing’ theme which together with the latest ‘Sparkle’ magazine kept our
visitors occupied and entertained as they arrived.
Richard
then introduced our two visitors for the afternoon, Celine and Christine, from
the Royal Cornwall museum in Truro. The ladies brought with them four very
special ‘memory boxes’ containing artefacts from the museum’s extensive
collections to stimulate our interests and personal memories. Two boxes were
based on a theme of ‘School Days’ and contained a wide range of artefacts,
books and photographs, many stimulating memories of our own schooldays, whilst
others went back to Victorian times. Ink bottles and pen nibs, wooden rulers,
school bells, satchels and milk bottles, even the ‘nit nurse’s comb’ were
amongst the selection of objects which were distributed around the tables,
raising much chatter and amusement which was encouraged by our visitors and
other memory café helpers.
The
second pair of boxes contained photos of earlier working days in Cornwall –
mining and fishing, wartime factories, cheese and butter makers and many more.
There were florins, threepenny bits and other pre-decimal currency, a bowler
hat, a police officer’s badge, a nurse’s watch, slide rules and even a plumb
line. Once again, there was the chance to handle everything on show, and to
exchange memories of first jobs and pay packets, working conditions and
opportunities, journeys to work and work colleagues from years gone by.
As
tea-time approached we heard the familiar rattle of the tea trolley and were
soon enjoying the usual selection of delicious savouries and cakes before
settling down again to explore Celine and Christine’s alternative topics to
which ever we had looked at earlier.
As
usual time flew by and Richard thanked our visitors for providing us with the
ingredients of a lively and stimulating afternoon.
We
made our way home with plenty to think and talk about before our next café at
Crantock Village Hall on Monday 6th August from 2pm. Crantock Memory
Cafe is run by trained volunteers and is for the benefit of residents of
Crantock and the surrounding areas who have a degree of memory loss. New members (with their carers) are always welcome, and should you require further information
please contact Di on 01637 830544, David on 01637 830617 or visit our website
at www.crantockmemorycafe.org.uk.
