The power of sport to stimulate the mind is invaluable
Memorable moments and shared feelings for games are helping those with dementia, writes Alan Tyers
here was a powerful moment of sports broadcasting last Monday when a fan got in touch with a much-loved institution to explain how the last hours of his dad’s life had been eased and made into something uplifting by listening to his favourite programme.
Was it Monday Night Football, elderly Arsenal supporter Mr A Wengerout departing to Net-spend Valhalla with the reassuringly rasping fury of Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville eviscerating the Gunners’ defence to soothe his passing? It was not.
It was, of course, Test Match Special, on which Jonathan Agnew had read out a lovely email from Patrick Taylor, whose father John had died aged 83 a few days previously.
It had been thought that Mr Taylor Snr, who had been very poorly with dementia, among other issues, would not regain consciousness in hospital. Patrick put the radio on, John opened his
Teyes, Patrick was able to tell him that he loved him and what a great dad he’d been. Patrick had sensed that this was all getting a bit mushy for his father, a Yorkshireman, so they listened instead to Chris Woakes make his century, and John passed away peacefully.
“Test Match Special:
radio to die to” might not necessarily be a winning slogan if the BBC is attempting to appeal to a younger demographic, as everyone feels they have to do these days, but there have to be many worse ways to go.
The BBC radio programme stands for continuity, memory, belonging and means so much to so many, as demonstrated by the raft of people contacting TMS
to share similar stories to Patrick’s.
I do not know if Marcel Proust was a cricket devotee, although I believe he
‘It is a great connector of people, which is important as loneliness is a major factor for dementia’
would have favoured the longer format, and who is to say that he couldn’t add a bit of solidity and fight to England’s middle order even today, 96 years after his death from pneumonia aged 51? But I do feel that he would have identified in Test Match Special something that he also located in the taste of a madeleine: an involuntary, achingly powerful memory of something long buried.
It is with this mystery of the human condition that Tony Jameson-allen, of the Sporting Memories Foundation, works. “Even when short-term memory is not functioning well, long-term memories can be retrieved,” he said. “Our most deep-seated and powerful memories are formed when we are aged between 10 and 30, and for lots of people that can often involve our first experiences of playing sport or watching, perhaps with our parents. Being involved in dramatic, joyful moments stays with us.”
Therefore, Sporting Memories runs group events where those with dementia, usually, although, as Jamesonallen points out, not necessarily, elderly people, get together to share memories of sport. There are significant mental health benefits: cognitive engagement, reducing feelings of isolation, alleviation of some of the symptoms of depression.
“Sport is a great connector of people, and that is important because we know one of the major contributory factors for dementia is loneliness and isolation,” he said.
Comfort, familiarity, being part of something: these are among the goals of the Sporting Memories Foundation, and the magic of Test Match Special as well. It is a shame that the BBC has not got the rights for England’s tours of Sri Lanka and West Indies this winter but, TMS, we will not forget you.
Find out how sport can help people with dementia and memory problems www.sportingmemoriesnetwork.com