Auntie Katie turns up unexpectedly in MHA Home

A set of books written to help communication in people with dementia have brought more memories to the surface in one care home than the authors may have thought possible.

Methodist Homes for the Aged is encouraging its homes to use the books with their residents living with dementia. Elvira Jones lives in mid-Wales at Hafan y Waun, MHA's dementia and nursing care home in Aberystwyth. One day, the activities co-ordinator, Susan Davies, showed Elvira "Women's Work in Pictures".

As Elvira and Susan were reading, they turned a page and Elvira exclaimed, "Good gracious, that woman looks like my auntie Katie!" There, a photograph from the early 20th century showed two women delivering milk from a hand-pulled milk float in west London.

Elvira told Susan that there was a photograph of her aunt in her room, so they went and found it. Sure enough, the woman Elvira recognised in the book was her aunt.

Aunt Katie, says Elvira, moved from Wales to work in London but regularly returned to see her family. "When she came back from London, she was very posh with lovely clothes," Elvira remembers.

Susan Davies is impressed with the "Pictures to Share" series. "Both I and relatives can use these books with those people who live at Hafan y Waun," she says. "The books help our residents bring to mind songs and memories of their younger lives and how they lived, as well as how they may have brought up their children."

Photo credit: It is clear who in book's photograph is Elvira Jones' auntie Katie! The same spectacles feature in both pictures. Photo by John Newbury.