VINTAGE FUNDRAISER FOR FORWARD-LOOKING CHARITY

Canon Street-based charity Hearts & Minds will host a Vintage Fashion Show on 26 March to raise funds and publicise its work across Scotland with people suffering from dementia.

The event – to be held in the café at the Scottish National Gallery on the Mound – will involve fun, fashion, music, cakes, sandwiches, tea, coffee and proseco. 

The main part of the event is a runway show in which Hearts & Minds staff will model items from the Stockbridge retro boutique Those Were the Days, sporting looks created by the Miss Dixiebelle Vintage Hair and Beauty Parlour. Music hall sounds will be provide by ‘Gramophone DJ’ Lord Holyrude.
 

Ticket holders automatically enter a raffle, with prizes including a chance to see Robbie Williams at Glasgow’s SSE, a behind-the-scenes tour of River City with ‘Kelly Marie’, and a musical return to OZ with Wicked.

Hearts & Minds was established in 1999/2000, and staff currently work to improve people’s time in ten hospital, hospice, residential and respite care units by using performing arts to encourage communication, interaction and laughter. Their Clowndoctors work specifically with children, and their Elderflowers with elderly dementia sufferers.

‘The immersive Elderflowers programme provides a valuable outlet for the participants’ own personality and humour, offering creative, physical and mental stimulation. The Elderflowers are trained to pick up on the interests and mood of each individual elderly person and respond accordingly. This can mean playful banter or very gentle, non-verbal communication.’

The work is clearly important. Around 800,000 people in the UK suffer from dementia, and that number is set to rise over the next 25 years.

According to Hearts & Minds founder and artistic director Magdalena Schamberger, ‘Although many people no longer recognise their family members, they do have an innate understanding of what family means and the Elderflowers become their family for the day. The Elderflowers work to a scenario of always needing advice such as what songs to play, how to behave at a wedding or what colour to paint a wall. Patients really appreciate being asked for their opinion rather than simply taking a passive role’.

The Hearts and Minds Vintage Fashion Show will take place from 6.30–8.30pm on Wednesday 26 March in The Scottish Café & Restaurant, The Scottish National Gallery. Tickets (£30) from www.eventbrite.co.uk

For further information email pip@heartsminds.org.uk or call 0131 270 6051.