Residents at Mildenhall Lodge inspire community creativity

Home news

Feb 04, 2019

Mildenhall Lodge welcomed the local community for a special art exhibition in collaboration with local organistaion, ArtatWork CIC.

The team at Mildenhall Lodge opened the doors to the care home and welcomed the local community to an artwork showcase created by the residents during the project. 

The nine-month art project, ‘Bringing the Outside In’, was supported by a National Lottery grant of £10,000 and saw artwork created based on residents’ childhood memories and experiences of nature.

The project has been co-created and delivered by Holly Sandiford and Melanie Tilford, from ArtatWork CIC, with a local arts and walking group for women which is held at Mildenhall Community Centre. The centre is managed by Keystone Development Trust, who were also partners in this project.

During the project, residents shared their memories of being in nature as children as inspiration for the artwork, with activities including library and museum visits, poetry sessions, journaling, heritage crafts making, and mixed media artwork. This was a two-way process as the women researched and creatively responded to what they learnt and shared their work with the residents, with one of the activities for the project including residents crafting wreaths for Christmas.

To mark the end of the project, the home hosted an art exhibition and welcomed the local community to view the art and meet the residents who inspired and created the work. The art will also be displayed throughout the home for residents and visitors to admire.

Katy Hughes, home manager at Mildenhall Lodge, added: “The residents and team at Mildenhall Lodge are incredibly proud to have taken part in such a fantastic project. We are passionate about the importance of encouraging older people to build relationships within the community, and encouraging reminiscence through hobbies such as arts and crafts – art is a fantastic way to express memories through a creative outlet.

“We would like to say a big thank you to Holly, Melanie and their team who made the project such a success, and we’re all looking forward to continuing to be creative with their new hobbies.”

Holly Sandiford, from from ArtatWork CIC, said: “This project is important to encourage reminiscence, and we were really keen to explore how the natural environment played a big role in the lives of the participating residents. We were over the moon to have received additional support thanks to National Lottery players. Mildenhall Lodge is a CQC-rated ‘outstanding’ care home and it has been a pleasure to work with them on this project.”