Marjory ‘Marj’ Hart is one of The Mayfield’s biggest characters. She’s 90, tough, funny and fit as a fiddle. She loves Whitby, and drinking tea. She is also living with dementia and most of the time she doesn’t know where she is or what she’s supposed to be doing. Sit with her on a bench with some fish and chips, however, and it will make her day – as we discovered recently when we did just that.
Marj was one of the first people to move in with us when we opened last March and when we had a visit from Linda Wild, her former neighbour and the previous Mayor of Whitby, shortly after, we found out a bit more about Marj’s history. Marj had lived in Whitby for many years, having moved here with her late husband Peter when he retired from the RAF. And one of her daily activities when she lived in her own home was to go down to Mister Chips by the harbour, then sit on a bench to eat her lunch and watch the world go by.
We know that triggering happy memories can really improve the life of someone with dementia – and research also shows that events and facts that are most frequently retrieved and used over a lifetime – like a daily trip to the fish and chip shop, for example – are better recalled by those living with dementia in later life. And so it turned out when we decided to plan a jaunt for Marj. We would take her back to her harbourside bench, get her some fish and chips and furnish her with a cup of Yorkshire’s finest. Sure enough, the moment Marj got out of the taxi, her face lit up, and she knew exactly where she was.
It was the same story when we took her to her old home, and when the taxi driver took her on an impromptu tour of the town. The memories came flooding back – everything from knowing where the best pubs were to watching the Red Arrows on high days and holidays.“This was one of the best days of my life”, Marj said as she arrived back at The Mayfield with tears of joy. She might have forgotten about it soon after she returned but the pictures we took will trigger the memories and make her happy again. And that’s what we’re all about – making memories, and creating new ones.
