Use the Sporting Pink to spark conversations with elderly relatives

But it’s nothing new for the Sporting Memories Foundation – that’s the charity’s bread and butter!

While coronavirus has resulted in the closure of the Foundation’s 120 community memory clubs across the UK – 40 of them in Scotland – staff and volunteers are working hard to make sure members are still connected.

And the charity is also sending out an invitation for others to join in the fun.

Resources and activities that can be used at home, online or over the phone have been created, including quizzes, puzzles and videos.

And for the first time ever, the Foundation’s weekly publication Sporting Pink is available for everyone to enjoy, with a digital version now available online.

Usually only used in its clubs, the Foundation hopes that by making it more widely available, families and friends will use it with older relatives to help spark sporting conversations.

Maruice Donohue, the chief operating officer in Scotland, said: “Now that so many of us are isolated from our loved ones and friends, we want to encourage as many people as possible to talk about sport.

“The aim is to get people to engage with their family and friends of all ages, spark lively conversations and bring to the fore all those positive memories.

“That’s why we have launched #TalkAboutSport. We want to demonstrate to as many people as possible the health, well-being and social benefits of talking about sport.

“Using our Sporting Pink digitally is a good starting point as it has information which can help spark those conversations.

“It will give people all over Scotland a wee taste of what happens at our clubs too.

“But instead of meeting in group settings in the communuity or care homes, you can do it all from the comfort and safety of home – simply using a telephone.”

Staff and volunteers started working on the new resources ahead of lockdown, as co-founder Chris Wilkins knew how hard it would hit the charity’s elderly members.

He said: “In a bid to help our members, and older people across the country who have an inteest in sport, we set up an activities area on our website.

“Our staff and volunteers are working hard to turn more of their innovative ideas into reality and will be adding to these resources and our other online channels in the coming weeks.”

Sadly, coronavirus means members can no longer meet weekly to discuss sport.

However, the charity hopes that the online resources will serve as a buffer until our lives start to return to normal.

Luckily, with so much work still being done, the Sporting Memories Foundation team are all still gainfully employed and are also finding new ways of communicating.

Maurice explained: “I’ve never been involved in so many video conference calls in my life!