#CelebratingSocialCare: art and creativity
23 Apr 2025
6 min read
Throughout April we鈥檙e #CelebratingSocialCare and all the great work happening across the sector. We asked you to send in your good news stories and we鈥檒l be sharing these throughout the month. Today we hear about some the incredibly creative people in care.
Milford House’s Art in Care 麻豆女郎s Award
Gale Louw from Milford House Care 麻豆女郎 in Salisbury was the winner of the Art in Care 麻豆女郎s Award at the recent National Activity Providers Association Awards for 2024 held in Liverpool on the January 24. Gale was honoured for her role in leading the artistic programme at the home over the course of the year and building on the foundation laid by another team member who was a finalist in this category in 2023.
Those supported at Milford House have enjoyed being part of an art programme that has encompassed working to themes such as ‘flowers in the garden’ and seeing their work displayed in a dedicated gallery that the home has created, exhibited at local art shows and as part of an ‘Art in the Square’ event held locally in Salisbury. The home is also a member of Plain Arts Salisbury and as such took part in the 2024 Salisbury Art Trail which is a two-week event involving artists and venues around the town. Milford House was a venue for two local artists and exhibited work by the residents.
Residents have been excited to have their work exhibited both within the home and to a wider audience which has created a great sense of pride and achievement. Residents have also been encouraged to try different art forms and techniques and have surprised themselves in what they have been able to achieve, and more and more residents and their family members have joined in art sessions often working together with a sense of shared purpose and experience.
General Manager, Aga Musial, said:
I am so proud of Gale for being recognised at a national level for the work that she has done with our arts. Anyone who visits the home can see what a key part art in all its forms plays in the life of the home and it is wonderful to see that recognised with this award 鈥� congratulations Gale! However, we won鈥檛 be resting on our laurels as we have lots of exciting plans for our art during 2025 including our recent appointment of an 鈥楢rtist in Residence'.
Time Bandits Art Club
Time Bandits Arts Club is the creation of Judy Seall, a family member at Hallmark Care 麻豆女郎’s Henley Manor. As Head of Drama at a local, independent school, Judy understood that art can build confidence and provide a platform for connection and joy.
The aim of the club was to push the boundaries of intergenerational and arts work with people living with dementia by moving away from highly structured activities. Instead, Time Bandits offered a more flexible and relationship-centred approach in which regular club afternoons, with music and drama students at Dolphin School in Hurst, visiting Henley Manor to collaborate with residents on art projects.
Time Bandits has been a huge success, allowing for relationships to develop between participants of various ages and backgrounds. The number of club members who attended varied each week because of illness, choice and other commitments. However, by week three, additional students and residents wanted to join and attended if space allowed.
Of the seven original resident members:
- two attended all eight sessions with all others attending 6 or more
- six more residents (who were not originally invited) showed an interest in joining
- 98% of individual resident records rated the session as positive (with only one rated neutral and one negative from 65 ratings).
Judy said:
According to the Alzheimer鈥檚 Society, every three seconds someone is handed a diagnosis of dementia. Every family will be touched by this disease. Both my mother and father died of the disease, my mother spending her final years living at Henley Manor. Could the arts have an impact on individuals living with dementia, and what might a project look like? Out of all this thinking Time Bandits became a thing. Seven brave students at Dolphin School, aged between 11 and 13, and two equally brave teachers, fearlessly volunteered to visit the care home on a weekly basis. They met with seven even braver residents living with dementia who had been invited by care home staff. Together we were the Time Bandits, and we met each week during the summer term to collaborate on a variety of arts projects. Here to change the world, or to tilt it slightly and look at it through a different lens? We were inspired by the work of the theatre company, Fevered Sleep, whose strapline is 鈥楥hanging the world one unlikely arts project at a time鈥�.
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