In Saturday’s Behind The Scenes feature in the Bolton Wanderers official matchday programme, we take a look at the Sporting Memories project which is being managed by the Bolton Wanderers Community Trust.
Richard Slater, who is the Trust’s Health and Disability Strategic Lead, writes about this important initiative which supports older people in our community and allows them to participate in social activities.
My role at the Community Trust is the ‘Strategy Lead –Health and Disability’, this involves managing the growth and development of our numerous health and disability projects that run across Bolton.
One of these projects is ‘Sporting Memories’, a monthly reminiscence session based at the University of Bolton Stadium.
The project is targeted at older people and supports them by engaging them in social activities and helping them to recall memories of watching or playing sport.
By sharing memories of sporting moments and tapping into a passion for sport and Bolton Wanderers we help people to connect with others and with their past, reawakening positive thoughts and feelings that otherwise remain hidden away.
Using images of sport and memorabilia, older people are assisted to stay connected to their friends and communities and are cognitively stimulated.
It provides them with the opportunity to come along, get out of the house, have a brew and reminisce about all things Bolton Wanderers, football and sport.
Everyone that attends is also given the opportunity to bring in any sporting memorabilia or information that they want to share and talk about with others.
Each month we have a different topic to discuss, which is often linked to the playing eras of Bolton Wanderers players that attend the sessions.
We have had Wanderers legend Tommy Banks attend, discussing his World Cup and FA Cup winning experiences and also bringing his England Caps from the World Cup.
Other ex-players that have attended include; Roy Greaves, Wyn Davies, Tony Kelly, Syd Farrimond, John Thomas, Steve Elliot and Brian Pilkington.
For anyone interested in attending the sessions, they run on the first Friday of every month from 11am-12:30pm.
The group meets in the main reception of the University of Bolton Stadium from 10:45am. The sessions are run free of charge.
For any more information on this or how to get involved please contact me: rslater@bwct.org.uk or ring the Community Trust office on 01204 673 790.