Tarvin Meeting Point Reminisces

Tarvin Meeting Point Reminisces

Members of Tarvin Meeting Point came to the last meeting clutching plastic bags full of memories. These items were not necessarily the important things to be grabbed in the event of fire, but treasured things that evoked particular memories of times gone by.

It was an extraordinary collection and among them were : the last cardigan knitted by a mother for a daughter, now so worn that it was only used as a bed jacket; an extraordinary $10 billion dollar note, worth virtually nothing, from a holiday in Zimbabwe; a much loved bracelet, fortunately dropped in a recent burglary; a battered wooden toy, a present from a sailor father; the beautiful casket that contained the Freedom of Wallasey given to a grandfather; a pirate pendant that adorned the ship that was sailed round the world with a younger brother. But perhaps the most exciting keepsake was an autograph book with not one but two complete sets of the Beatles autographs!

The meeting was divided between those who carefully collect memorabilia and those who tend to throw away things with gay abandon. One member, whose work takes her into communities of the very elderly, cautioned the latter group and stressed that memory boxes could be very important in helping to anchor people to their past. As memory fades with age, and especially if dementia becomes a sad reality, having items of importance can help people reconnect with their lives and can focus their minds on the many good things that may have happened to them. So, it may be time to find and preserve all those photos and mementoes that litter our lives.

The next meeting will look at Scotland. It's history and culture and also discuss the question that will start to dominate the news as we get closer to the September referendum – should Scotland become an independent nation. For details, see the Directory entry for Tarvin Meeting Point.