Football legend John opens memory room
RANGERS legend John Greig officially opened a sports memories room at a care home for veterans.
The room at Erskine Park Home in Bishopton features lots of sporting memorabilia with one wall displaying a large mural containing photographs of sporting greats from a variety of sports from athletics to swimming, boxing to football.
Erskine Park residents chose which sporting greats they would like to see in the mural with the designer coming up with the finished design.
Voted ‘ The Greatest Ever Ranger’ in 1999 by the club supporters, and former captain of the Scotland team, John Greig features in the mural which takes pride of place in the Sporting Memories Room. There are also other photos of John in the room – in fact, his photo features in the room six times!
Erskine Park Home houses 40 residents who are either veterans or a spouse of a veteran, all of whom are living with dementia. The room provides a quiet place where they can reminisce about memorable sporting occasions. The charity hold football memories sessions in the room where residents are encouraged to talk about their favourite player or team. Residents also use the room to watch sport on the television with football matches being a popular choice.
John said: “It was great to meet everyone. It’s a wonderful place and the Sporting Memories Room brought back many memories for me.”
Carol McPhail, Activities Assistant at Erskine Park said: “We are thrilled that John came along today to officially open our Sporting Memories Room. Many of our residents are keen on football and for such a football legend to come to our home to spend time with them is fantastic. I am sure we will be reminiscing about this day for many years to come.”
The mural in the Sporting Memories Room is sponsored by RSEA (Rangers Supporters Erskine Appeal) and the Bluebells Bar, Puerto Del Carmen. RSEA also assisted with the room financially and sourced some of the items on display. A donation of £3,000 from the Bank of Scotland Community Fund towards the cost of the room, allowed the project to begin. The mural was designed by James Baird www. theblueroom.co.uk
The Evening Times will be going back to the facility to find out more about the work being done at the sporting memories unit.