Treasure House, a Big Lottery funded project delivered in partnership with National Museums Northern Ireland (NMNI), provides opportunities for older people to increase their cognitive skills, gain confidence and motivation and to meet new people. It aims to provide greater social inclusion and widen social networks and improve quality of life, health and self-esteem by facilitating engagement in new cultural and creative activities. Activities include monthly visits to one of four museums; sessions so far include exploring the textile collection at the Ulster Museum, soda bread making at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum and recreating Christmas during the war. Two new Lifelong Learning Officer posts have also been created within NMNI specifically to co-ordinate the activities with tenants.
Why we liked this project
This project provides tenants with the opportunity to engage in something different, develop new interests and share experiences whilst engaging with their heritage and culture. It helps build relationships between tenants within and between schemes and addresses loneliness and isolation, and health and well-being generally. The project is currently only for Clanmil tenants although it has the potential for extending beyond this; the association is planning to include friends, family and older people from local communities which will help to address wider social isolation and loneliness.
Go back