Alzheimer Scotland Expand Football Memories Project

Alzheimer Scotland has unveiled their brand new Hampden Hub and launched a new Football Memories league across Scotland.

We recently posted this in the news section on our website, but we wanted to share this amazing project on a wider platform. The Football Memories project is supported by People’s Postcode Trust’s Dream Fund. This year, Alzheimer Scotland received a grant of just over £75,000, all raised by players of People’s Postcode Lottery. We and Alzheimer Scotland were joined at the grand opening by Scottish football legends including Colin Jackson, Lawrie Reilly and Peter Cormack.

The project opens its doors to elderly people living with Alzheimer’s or dementia. Football Memories is very popular with older men. These men are often struggling on a daily basis with this illness, but the initiative has shown that even though sufferers struggle with their memory, when talking about football, memories prevail.

Volunteers are trained to sit with groups and show them various material, including photos. Stimulus such as this can jog the memory and encourage recall to get people talking of “the good old days”, remembering specific matches, goals and incidents.

The boost in mood that these people experience is noticeable, and they once again feel a sense of belonging and of identity, which dementia and Alzheimer’s can so cruelly rob them of.

As well as being able to visit the hub, people can also join the new league that has been launched by the charity, which allows them to choose a team and team colours. The initiative really gives these people a chance to escape from their daily routines and the challenges that living with Alzheimer’s or dementia present.

There’s a wonderful video which explains more about the project and you can see how genuinely happy it makes people. Watch it here.

If you know a small project starting out that could do with some funding, then you should tell them about People’s Postcode Trust’s Dream Fund. It offers funding of up to £100,000. The applications window is closed, but will re-open again next year.

We salute our players for making it possible to fund People’s Postcode Trust, and as a result, making projects like Football Memories surpass their goals. Thanks to all who play. If you’d like to play, to help fund charities and community projects, but also to be in with winning big cash prizes, then sign up today!