Tea, Cake and Collections: ReEngage Tea Parties at National Museum Cardiff and St Fagans National Museum of History
, 31 July 2023
“Re-engage provides vital, life-enhancing social connections for older people at a time in their lives when their social circles are diminishing.”
For over a decade we have been working with ReEngage (formerly Contact the Elderly), hosting regular tea parties at some of our museums for older people experiencing loneliness and isolation.
The first tea parties took place at National Museum Cardiff, initially 4 times a year, but as the group grew this increased to 8 parties per year, hosted between National Museum Cardiff and St Fagans National Museum of History.
The tea parties enable group members to visit the museums in a safe and supported way, meet their friends, make new social connections and spend time exploring the museums collections through engaging activities and talks with members of staff. And there’s always plenty of tea and cake!
During this time, we have built strong links with the group members and Jane Tucker, the group leader. Ahead of the tea parties we have conversations with Jane to make sure we are aware of any accessibility, mobility and other needs within the group to ensure we can tailor the sessions accordingly.
Here Jane tells us a little more about how the tea parties started and her role in supporting the group:
“I started volunteering with Re-engage (or Contact the Elderly as it was then) in March 2013 as a driver.
On a visit to St Fagans (funnily enough) in approximately 2017, I happened to see Marion Lowther who, at the time, was the Re-Engage organiser for Wales. She told me she had a group of about 6 guests but no coordinator. At the time they were only meeting 4 times a year as the only host available was National Museum Cardiff, hence why we are called the Cardiff Museum group. I volunteered to take over the group and have managed to get more hosts and more guests. The Museums are always a favourite of the group because you always provide interesting talks and activities.
As you know a lot of our ladies are quite frail and are unable to leave their homes unaccompanied. The visits to the Museum are a real highlight for them and we are so grateful for your continued support.” (Jane Tucker, ReEngage Group Leader).
In March of this year the group visited National Museum Cardiff for a session all about the current BBC 100 Exhibition, exploring the 100 year history of the BBC in Wales.
The session was run by two members of the museum learning team, Jo and Louise. They used fun informal quizzes to highlight the exhibition content in a comfortable setting, as navigating the exhibition itself would have been challenging for the group members. Jo ran a TV picture quiz focussed on TV in the 60’s and 70’s and Louise ran a short TV theme tune quiz.
Jo and Louise said “The group enjoyed chatting about their memories and there was lots of reminiscing about visits to the museum with children and grandchildren. They really enjoyed their tea!”
Jane said following the visit “the talk we had at National Museum Cardiff was great, when the 2 hosts were playing music from old television programmes and adverts. Our guests had lots of fun trying to recognise the tunes and then talking about the old programmes.”
The groups last visit to St Fagans took place in May 2023, facilitated by two members of the St Fagans learning team, Hywel and Jordan.
Jordan explains: “After introducing them to the site we gave a talk about the ‘Cynefin’ work being developed in our school learning programme, using the Wales is... gallery, exploring individual senses of identity and how we can use objects to support the sharing of these stories. Then, we discussed the groups’ personal understandings of their ‘Cynefin’, using handling objects from the museum collection to spark memories and conversation. Handling objects like the darning mushroom, pre decimalisation coinage and green shield stamps, proofed to be popular talking points for the group, encouraging them to shared stories of living in Wales and other parts of the world, their experiences of using everyday objects like this and changes over time.”
Here’s what some of the group members said about taking part following the session:
“Most enjoyable afternoon at St Fagans Museum. It is lovely to see other people to chat with as I spend a lot of time alone. It’s really appreciated.” (Anne)
“I really enjoyed the talk about the museum and the work they are doing. Sundays can be really lonely so having a Re-Engage tea is such a joy and something to look forward to.” (Rita)
“Handling the objects at the Museum was really fun as well as informative. It gets your brain working and brings back memories.” (Hazel)
We’ll be welcoming the group back to St Fagans this summer to take part in some traditional yarn crafts inspired by our textile collections. Then they’ll be returning to National Museum Cardiff this autumn autumn.
The museum learning team and group members alike always look forward to the tea parties. Over the past 10 years they have grown to become a key fixture in our wider Health and Wellbeing programme. Long may they continue!
With thanks to all the ReEngage group members for sharing their stories, thoughts and feedback. Looking forward to seeing you next time!
