The Scottish Football Partnership has made an award of £6,000 to the Football Memories League to assist with the expansion of the project, which uses football memories to improve the lives of people with dementia. Michael White project manager of the FML said, “The Football Memories project is helping men with dementia by reviving memories of players, matches, goals and incidents from football matches in their younger days. A joint project between Alzheimer Scotland and the Scottish Football Museum at Hampden Park, it has attracted almost unprecedented levels of interest and involvement from fans and players alike. The website at www.footballmemories.org.uk has seen contributions of stories from footballers, rock stars, film actors, journalists, politicians and ordinary supporters all across the country. There is a Facebook site at https://www.facebook.com/footballmemories. To date over seventy Football Memories groups have been established across Scotland, from the Shetland Isles in the north to Stranraer in the south-west, where men with dementia and other memory problems gather to enjoy looking back at old photos and memorabilia. Their recall of matches and incidents is spectacular. Details of scores, scorers and even moves leading to goals are recalled, and the banter and humour is incredible.The award from the Scottish Football Partnership will enable us to produce another set of memory cards entitled “Scottish League Legends 1950 to 1980” and these will bring a welcome addition to our resources. The people in the groups love picking their all-time Greatest XI and this new set should add to the debate, discussion and good-natured banter”.
