The Royal Mint Museum celebrates as 1000th ‘Reminiscence Box’ goes out to UK Care Home
The reminiscence box project commenced with five boxes in 2021 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Decimal Day.
The boxes encourage positive memories with artefacts from times gone by.
A new collection box was developed to commemorate the 2022 Platinum Jubilee.
A third collection has been curated on the topic of The Royal Mint.
The Royal Mint Museum is proud to announce that the 1,000th reminiscence box loan has been despatched. This major milestone has provided approximately 30,000 people, who otherwise may not have an opportunity, to access part of the Royal Mint Museum collection.
The Royal Mint Museum Reminiscence Box project is an opportunity for those living in residential care to interact with a part of our Museum collection and share memories from their lives. The whole Museum team is passionate about contributing to the positive well-being of those living and working in residential care across the nation, and our boxes are available for all care homes in the United Kingdom to borrow.
The boxes are an activity resource containing genuine and replica items, audio-description and storytelling, and activity guidance for care workers. Care home staff can request to borrow a box and run reminiscence sessions with their residents.
The reminiscence box collection began in 2021 with five boxes on loan in the Rhondda Cynon Taff area. The success of the project quickly led to the collection of boxes increasing, with 70 boxes in circulation to commemorate the 2022 Platinum Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. In April of this year, a third collection with the theme of The Royal Mint was unveiled. For the first time, this collection is also available in the Welsh language.
The project struck a chord with the Panasonic Toughbook team at their base in Cardiff. 50 Toughbooks were donated to the project in November 2021, enabling the reminiscence box to include an audio-visual element.
Museum Director Dr Kevin Clancy said, “The reminiscence sessions are a fun and stimulating activity, giving care home residents the opportunity to talk about their memories of times gone by. The continuation and expansion of our reminiscence box project is something that we are very proud of. Building on the success of the work with the 50th anniversary of decimalisation and Platinum Jubilee collections, we are now very pleased to offer a third collection. Reaching a milestone of 1,000 loans is a wonderful achievement, and we look forward to offering the opportunity to even more care settings in the future. Many thanks to the other museums who have worked with us on this project.”
All 1,000 loans across the United Kingdom have been plotted on a map, CLICK HERE
If you would like to borrow a box, please check out The Royal Mint Museum website
or email borrowabox@royalmintmuseum.org.uk
The Royal Mint Museum is a registered charity, and an accredited museum, which is based on The Royal Mint site in Llantrisant, South Wales. Established in 1816, It has one of the finest collections of coins and related numismatic material in the world.