The Bedford Players Trust has been delivering Timeless Tales in Bedford after receiving funding earlier in the year through ELFT’s £1.8m community fund programme.
The Trust programme was launched to fund work led by the voluntary sector aimed at reaching communities who experience inequalities in access, experience and outcomes in mental health care.
Mental health voluntary sector organisations were also invited to apply for funding if they were at direct risk of closing or losing capacity as a result of the COVID pandemic.
The Players submitted a successful application and were awarded £8,932.
They are using the funding to focus on care home residents with dementia and improving their wellbeing by bringing the arts into care homes.
The structured programme has 11 weekly sessions held in two care homes, followed by a block of 11 in two other homes.
The same key song and poem is repeated as part of the rolling programme to help residents with familiarity – with the team seeing a marked improvement week-on-week in the number of residents engaging and clapping at the end of the performance.
“The relationship with the care home teams has been crucial and we hope that this positive communication between Timeless Tales and the care home teams will mean that we can support residents to our best ability and the teams can embed and continue the work when we are not there,” said Harriet Mardlin, co-lead for the Timeless Tales project.
Dr Mohit Venkataram, ELFT Director of Commercial Development, said: “The grants programme helped shine a light on incredible voluntary sector organisations.
“We are incredibly proud to support partners including the Bedford Players Trust in their work to reach communities who experience inequalities in access, experience and outcomes in mental health care.”