9. Listening together

with Barbara and Louise
 
Barbara still lives on her own and at 81, these days she needs a bit of extra help from her daughter Louise, who pops in to Barbara's flat on a daily basis to make sure Mum is OK.
Barbara is a very independent person and still fit and active. If she forgets what day it is or what she should be doing when, there are lists with times to remind her, so that she can tick things off as she accomplishes her daily tasks. This also helps her to manage her schedule, her medication and her food. Barbara likes order and routine, it helps with her anxiety and it's helping to keep her as self-sufficient as possible. 

When I arrive in her immaculately kept flat she proudly shows me her amazing view over the rooftops of London. Louise has thoughtfully brought out some of the photographs of the Remembering Together sessions to act as a memory prompt for her mum. Barbara is doing her best to remember, but she's got other things on her mind and Barbara's worried that she might not get a newspaper at the corner shop.
After some reassurance, Barbara turns her attention back to the photos laid out on a coffee table. Although she cannot immediately remember who's who and what happened in all the images, with a little patience and understanding some things do start to come back. Fortunately, I can remember the sessions, as well as details of Barbara's life story which she shared with the group, so mentioning these, seems to stir her own memory and the clouds begin to clear.

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​Now that I have Barbara's interest, I ask whether she enjoyed the Remembering Together sessions. "Yes, it was a nice time each week. I enjoyed it," she tells me, "It was a nice crowd, a nice balance and combination of people, the group worked well and I liked the story telling and the songs." During the twelve weekly sessions there were many opportunities to meet other people with dementia and reminisce whilst doing fun activities, and we chat about this.
I'd also like to know what Louise thought of the sessions. "I had a lovely time too. It was lovely to see my mum relaxed and enjoying chatting and listening. It was valuable time together!" Was it helpful to meet other carers I ask? "Yes," says Louise," It was my only contact with other carers. It was useful time with people in a similar situation and to learn from their experience!"
I've also come to find out about the personal artwork which was created for Barbara, by Eugenia Hall who has a background as a theatre director as well as a BBC radio drama producer. These days, Eugenia has a growing interest in stories and creative writing, working with older people. She's used these skills to create an audio recording of mother and daughter in conversation, so that they and their family can listen back at any time.
I'm keen to hear how Eugenia made the recordings. "I built on the experience of Remembering Together sessions, using notes and pictures that had been taken about aspects of their lives. Louise also brought photographs of Barbara's past life as reminders – along with cake! I took my recording equipment and spent a couple of hours in conversation with them and then edited this afterwards, adding sounds and music to complement the conversation."

​Having worked as an oral historian for many years myself, I'd like to know what Eugenia would say were the particular challenges of making an artwork using someone else's memories? "The need to enable good conversations, to elicit those memories – since their own words are the stuff of the artwork - and in my case having a recording set-up that was relaxed enough."
I'm also curious to know how the process has informed Eugenia's own practice? "I have mostly been working with fictional characters and stories. However recently I have worked with older people's life stories, so doing this piece has built on that.  It's also given me more of an awareness of working in 'interview' situations – and opening up more ideas about how sound recordings can be useful in work with older people including those with dementia."
At Barbara's, we pop on the Dancing Days CD and tells the story of how Barbara met her husband Ron. The soundtrack includes one of their favourite songs and as soon as the mellow music is played, I can see an instant change in the atmosphere in the room as the melody of Sunny Side of the Street lifts the mood, Barbara relaxes and seems more at ease as we listen together. Does it bring back happy memories, I ask? "Oh yes" smiles Barbara, "I was thrilled to get it! It brings back memories of my husband."

It's time for me to be on my way and to venture back into the sunny street myself. It's been lovely seeing Barbara and Louise; I do hope that Barbara continues to have the confidence in herself to go out and do the things she enjoys. "Of course" she smiles, "But first of all, I want to get my newspaper!"  I smile too, and something tells me that it won't be long before Barbara will be ticking this off her list later today!​

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