We officially launched the Diocese as a Dementia Friendly organisation on 6th October 2018 at the Caritas Day of Reflection.
The announcement appeared on the Diocesan website and also in the Catholic Universe and the Yorkshire Evening Post as well as the Catholic Universe.
Thank you to everyone involved in supporting this initiative; all the members of the Working Group, our Bishop Marcus and all of Growing Old Grace-fully’s trustees.
At the recent AGM of Leeds Bereavement Forum, there were some very moving stories told from people about loss and bereavement. The links to the three videos below were organised by http://www.lippypeople.org/ in partnership with the Carers Centre. Lippy People were keen to emphasis the importance of everyone telling their own story and having control over how that story is told.
Here are the three videos from older people, out of the nine filmed in total. I have found them all to be very moving, but also hopeful.
St Vincent’s Support Centre 4 Berking Avenue, Leeds, LS9 9LF are offering support to people in many ways. Two of these ways include:
Contact Jacquie on 0113 248 4126 for more details.
Caritas Leeds Day of Reflection, Saturday 6th October 10am-3pm at Notre Dame 6th Form College, Leeds LS2 9BL.
Come along to help Caritas, the Diocese and the Bishop decide on which two areas of need will get extra focus – should it be people with a disability, families in need, the homeless, older people, prisoners or asylum seekers? Your vote will count.
Email joseph.cortis@dioceseofleeds.org.uk or visit www.dioceseofleeds.org.uk for more details.
I remember vividly being invited to watch 6 short films created by older people, in collaboration with staff and students from Leeds Beckett University.in April 2017. I found the themes fascinating, and relevant to my life. I was even more interested in the invitation to join a live performance course, which Teresa Brayshaw was about to run with participants over the age of 65. I knew immediately that this was a must for me.
I realised that the travelling would be quite a commitment, and that I had no idea what a live performance would look like. In fact I initially has difficulty explaining my enthusiasm to friends, who said they could not think of anything they would like to do less.
There were 8 of us at the initial workshop, and 3 of the group already knew each other, 3 others had already had input into the film making Cinage course. I knew no one, however Teresa had the ability to make every exercise a comfortable experience. She managed the initial reluctance of some participants, the super confidence of others, and made us all feel that we mattered, and that what we said or wrote about ourselves was of value.
I loved being introduced to different aspects of performance, like the dance session. We were taught by experienced professionals, who in deference to our not so lithe bodies, created sequences which were creative and amusing. We were learning to be with each other, and create happenings together. I did remember at this point doing dance drama at college over 50 years ago, when it was termed modern educational dance, and reconnected with my young memories.
We also saw a variety of short films, some from Eastern Europe, which expanded our ideas about the range of performance including mime. The weekly sessions were becoming high points for me – a change from a lifestyle, which although fulfilling, and varied, could be quite draining and demanding. This was demanding in a different way, but also nurturing, we were being listened to, our lived lives mattered, and we listened to what each person had to say and understood a little more about each other.
For me this was a huge change. We would write on various subjects, and I would email these thoughts to friends and family. Somehow doing the course made it possible to open conversations about what it was like to be an older person, what it was like to be retired. I discovered that my children found these writings to be full of insight, and made them think about their lives, and they encouraged me to write a book.
I consider this to be a major change. My children are caught up in the busy life syndrome , too busy to have much leisure family time or long conversations, so these pieces, written for cinage, opened up conversations about subjects that mattered.
The process of developing versions of ourselves, which we then performed in public, also made me reflect on what my life had become. Over the course of the year I made some changes, being less frenetic about going on marches and more accepting of the challenges of illness among friends and family. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z6A5fYpX14
I had always believed that our generation had a role to change the attitudes of younger people to ageing. I did not imagine that the Cinage live experience would give our group such a public platform to do that. I am so grateful to Teresa and her team who had the vision to believe in us, and to make it happen. It also feels that this is the start of an important contribution to changing attitudes, through performance.
Richard Demarco who created the Edinburgh Fringe in 1948 , saw a version of our performance, and invited us to perform at the Edinburgh Festival this year. We have just returned from there , and amazingly our performance was so well received that a trip to Poland to perform there , is on the cards. In 15 years time there will be more people over the age of 65 than under the age of 15.We older people have a job to do dispelling myths and prejudice about old age, and this type of performance from over 70s does just that.
Here’s a review from Professor Steve Bottoms Edinburgh Festival 2018 review.
Ann West
The following is an excerpt from the general audience of Pope Francis, 11th March 2015:
The first important thing to stress about old age is this: it is true that society tends to discard us, but the Lord definitely does not. The Lord never discards us. He calls us to follow him in every age of life, and old age has a grace and a mission too, a vocation from the Lord.
Old age is a vocation. It is not yet time to ‘pull in the oars’. This period of life is different from those before it, there is no doubt; we even have to somewhat ‘invent it ourselves’, because our societies are not ready, spiritually and morally, to appreciate the true value of this stage of life.
Indeed, it once was not so normal to have this time available; it is much more so today. Christian spirituality has also been caught somewhat by surprise with regards to outlining a kind of spirituality of the elderly. But thanks be to God, there is no shortage of the testimony of elderly saints, both men and women.
A great believer of the last century, of the Orthodox Tradition, Olivier Clément, said, ‘A civilisation which has no place for prayer is a civilisation in which old age has lost all meaning. And this is terrifying. For above all, we need old people who pray; prayer is the purpose of old age.’
We need old people who pray because this is the very purpose of old age. The prayer of the elderly is a beautiful thing.”
Could you help the Centre for Ageing Better‘s research by joining a focus group, interview or case study over the next few months? If you take part, you will receive £10 to £50 depending on your time input.
Research is being carried out on behalf of the Centre for Ageing Better to find out from people in Leeds aged 50 and over what information and advice relating to housing they may want or need now and in the future; this might be repairs/improvements, adaptations, tenants’ rights, funding and financial advice, moving house and moving into specialist housing.
During August-October 2018 there will be a range of ways people can be involved in the research, including:
They are looking for people who may be interested in getting involved in this research. Here is a flyer RecruitmentFLyer_TwoSided_V1 explaining how people can express an interest in being involved, and there is a short online form to complete https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/AgeingBetter_Research/
By expressing an interest in the research at this stage, no-one is obliged to take part, they can withdraw at any time. Data is held securely and remains within the research team, according to GDPR.
For more information about this research, please contact:
Kerry Swain – Kerryswain7@hotmail.com – 07932 655130
Julie Wrigley – juliewrigley@outlook.com – 07817 362281
Thank you to all who joined the Dementia Friends session at St Aelred’s parish in Harrogate, including people from the adjoining parish of St Robert’s.
England were playing Belgium so I don’t think there were any football fans there but there are 11 more official ‘Dementia Friends’ in our Diocese, joining the 150 people who’ve already become a Dementia Friend in our Diocese via Growing Old Grace-fully sessions…. plus the thousands more through other people and organisations.
The number of people living with dementia is forecast to keep growing so we need more dementia friendly parishes. To be a dementia friendly parish is to engage in the process that will find ways to include people with dementia, so that they are helped to experience life in all its fullness. Holding a Dementia Friends session, which lasts about 45 minutes, is a really good introduction to opening up the discussion and exploring how to be more dementia-friendly. The format of the session is interactive and upbeat and we have added a little to the standard programme to make it more relevant to a parish audience. I bring everything I need to the session and will also provide a Bulletin Notice. Please email me if you think your parish might be willing to host a Dementia Friends session.
Rachel Walker, Project Co-ordinator
Fr Michael McCarthy
Please pray for the family and friends of Fr Michael McCarthy, Parish Priest of St Joseph the Worker at Sherburn-in-Elmet and the Immaculate Conception at Scarthingwell, who died at St Gemma’s Hospice in Leeds on the evening of 10th July 2018.
Fr Michael was a poet as well as a priest. He wrote several books of poetry, including a collection of poems called “The Healing Station” arising out of a period he spent as Writer-in-Residence at a Dublin hospital. Bishop Marcus Stock described it as giving a “profound expression to the experiences of dementia patients and their carers through poetic narrative”. His last volume of poems is due to be published in October.
We are so grateful that Fr Michael gave his time to help the work of “Growing Old Grace-fully”, leading events for us and reading excerpts from his poetry. He helped ensure the voices of people faced with ailments of later life – strokes, heart attacks, onset of dementia – never lost their humanity or their humour.
Except from ‘The Good Tears’, The Healing Station
‘I’ve cried across the broken bones, and the blessings of my life
these last two weeks,’ he says with another burst of full-on tears.
I tell him how St Ignatius Loyola believed that the clearest sign
of gratitude is uncontrollable crying. ‘Good tears,’ he calls them.
‘Like Heaney’s turf cutters. Going down for the good tears.’
Fr Michael’s Obituary is on our Diocesan website . His body is being received at Scarthingwell on Wednesday 18th July at 7pm and there is a Funeral Mass at Sherburn on Thursday at 11am. His Requiem Mass will be at the Church of the Holy Family, Caheragh, West Cork on Monday, 23rd July at 1.30pm.
My mum, who is 86, was with me this weekend. She shared this prayer with me that she always carries with her. It made us both laugh, as we recognised some aspects of ourselves in it. I hope it makes you smile too.Amen.
