Borrow picture frames for arts for dementia pictures

Thu 14 Jan 2016, 14:22

I run the Lights Up memory club in Chipping Norton. We meet twice a month for two hours, it is a drop in club that is open to anyone in the area who is living with dementia or experiencing any memory or thinking problems, or is elderly and lonely. We have welcomed several clients from Charlbury over the three years that we have been running. People are welcome to come with a family member or carer and there is no charge. At each session we do gentle seated exercise to music and a stimulating arts activity run by a professional artist, musician, dancer or poet and the session ends with tea/coffee and cake. We know that engagement with the arts is not only a good stimulus for the brain but also enhances well-being and happiness. Our sessions are great fun and the friendship and encouragement that all involved experience is so heartening. We regard our work as preventative as well as in response to diagnosis which is why we welcome anyone who feels that they are having any kind cognitive difficulty or is living with physical pain, anxiety or just feeling a little low.

Our funding from West Oxon District Council is to be cut by 50% from the end of March which means that there will only be sufficient funds to run the club once a month. I am starting a fundraising campaign to ensure that Lights Up can continue and to start it am putting up an exhibition of some of the art made by our members in The Chipping Norton Theatre later in the month to coincide with the launch of the new Dementia Friendly Chipping Norton group. I have also been asked to show some of the exhibits in the Dept of Psychiatry at the University of Oxford. These are good opportunities for me to raise awareness of the work that we do and hopefully to attract donations to help us to keep on doing it.

I have no funding to buy frames and although I will do my best without them some of the lovely watercolours that our members have made really do deserve framing. Which is why I thought I would turn to our large community of artists and ask if I can borrow some frames from any of you for a few weeks from the end of January to mid March. Most of the items that need framing are on A4 paper so frames that are large enough to take them with a window mount would be splendid.

If you think that you might be able to help by lending me some frames for the Lights Up exhibition I would be so very grateful.

If you wish to donate so that I can buy frames that we can use again even better !

Please ring me on 07769723328 or email me if you can help.