Tour adaptations to accommodate people living with dementia
Lichfield Cathedral continues to take steps to become more dementia-friendly. Recently, the focus has been on adapting the regular tour of the cathedral, ready to welcome visitors living with dementia. Regular tour guide Linda Gillion shares the process, explaining the teamwork involved, the planned adaptations and adjustments and the impromptu music and singing that was shared.
Building on the cathedral’s experiences, you may wish to arrange a dementia-friendly cathedral tour for an individual or a group: if so, there are contact details at the end of this blog. Equally, you may wish to focus on invitations and adaptations in your own church, to make visits or tours, experiences or encounters more dementia-friendly.
Linda Gillions, Cathedral Tour Guide, writes:
“When I was asked to undertake a dementia friendly tour of Lichfield Cathedral last autumn, I felt both privileged and daunted. I am one of the cathedral’s regular tour guides but this was a new venture. I wondered what to expect and how to interact with the group. I decided to omit giving too many dates and hoped not to be asked about the architecture – not my strongest area!
After discussing it with Gail, one of the cathedral’s Dementia Champions, I decided to use lots of visual aids, including photos, posters and a dressing up version of a bishop’s mitre that would help to bring the cathedral to life. I also planned practical opportunities to light candles and sit in the choir stalls: this seemed more engaging than me just talking for several minutes at a time. The tour was beginning to take shape. I knew that I would have to be flexible and adapt the tour as it unfolded and was unsure how long it would take. We had initially thought that half an hour would be sufficient.
With the bare bones of the tour thought through and with photos and props at the ready, I teamed up, on the day, with Gail and Jill, two of our Dementia Champions and Kay, another cathedral guide. Our group was from one of the local care homes, building on links through our dementia-friendly services and events. It consisted of two carers and six people living with dementia, two of whom were in wheelchairs. They all remembered coming into the cathedral for our services and one of them recalled being head steward here some years ago, remembering that his grandsons had been choristers.
Introductions were made so that we could learn the names of our visitors, then I spoke briefly on how long there had been a cathedral on the site and features we could see. A couple of residents and the carers asked general questions. We then made our way slowly to the icon of the Virgin Mary to offer the opportunity to light a candle. Everyone lit a candle and faces lit up with memories. I pointed out the icons of the Angel Gabriel and the Virgin Mary and told them a little about how they were created. Again, some asked questions.
We moved on to a stained-glass window including a depiction of the story of David and Goliath, which some knew about, before making our way to the choir stalls where we sat down. We had just shared photos of the organ and choristers when, as luck would have it on this particular occasion, Nigel, our assistant organist, arrived in the cathedral and agreed to play for us. He waved at us from the organ loft and demonstrated some of the notes and use of stops to illustrate the power of the organ.
He kindly launched into “All things bright and beautiful” for us to sing along with. I had just asked for the chorus, but Nigel also played some of the verses, as the group were singing along. A couple of times I struggled to remember the words, but they were word perfect! Nigel took a bow and was duly applauded. One visitor said how much she had enjoyed the singing. Although it won’t always be possible to have an organist present, there will be an opportunity to sing a favourite hymn unaccompanied, if someone on the tour would enjoy this.
We moved next to the bishop’s chair, where some enjoyed touching the carvings of animals and flowers. We looked at a photo of the bishop wearing his robes and mitre. Using two mitres which we have for school tours, everyone sat in one of the old pews and had their photo taken wearing a mitre. People smiled as they were “anointed” by their new bishop!
We ended our tour in the Lady Chapel where everyone admired the new icons near the Shrine of St Chad and the stained glass.
In the end, the tour lasted almost an hour: without a rush, questions had been asked, everyone had engaged with what we did and we felt that memories had been stirred. The carers and some of the visitors thanked us and the carers asked if we could offer such tours again.
We’ve learned that we need to focus on visual and physical props and to offer moments of silence for our visitors to reflect on what they see and hear. We also need to be flexible in what we cover on each tour, responding to the different nature of each group.
I would like to end with a prayer I wrote that appears in the cathedral’s current ‘Dementia-friendly prayers’ leaflet.
O Lord,
Only you know the battles we face.
the tears we shed.
Help us to live this and every day
under the shadow of your wing.
Give us patience to forebear
whatever life brings us,
courage to face it head on,
strength to keep moving forward,
laughter to enjoy ourselves
and above all your love to encompass it.
Amen.”
If you are interested in bringing people to a dementia-friendly cathedral visit, contact dementia.friendly@lichfield-cathedral.org