Western Bay Museum’s memory trunk visits Te Puke rest homes

Carter House resident Janet Canning with the rag rug from the Western Bay Museum's memory trunk.

A Western Bay Museum initiative has been putting smiles on faces in Te Puke.

Last week, the museum’s collections manager visited Carter House and Bupa Te Puke Country Lodge with a trunk full of memories to share with residents.

And the recollections flowed.

There were mystery items from the museum collection — with some readily recognised by residents, and others causing a fair bit of head scratching — and some familiar, but now largely obsolete, household objects.

Janet Canning from Carter House joked that reminiscing made her feel a bit old.

“Children couldn’t imagine what it was like,” she said.

An old headset of the kind used by telephone exchange switchboard operators prompted a lot of discussion, with some residents recalling the drawback of party lines. Those on a party line had their own individual ring pattern to indicate the call was for them and some of the residents recalled the way their phone rang when they were younger.

The pilot for the programme began in Katikati.

“Sometimes they have over 40 residents — the highlight of their month is looking forward to when the collection manager is bringing the memory trunk along,” says Western Bay Museum manager Paula Gaelic.

“We’ve asked what the rest homes feel about it and they are absolutely delighted for a whole lot of reasons.

“People love to reminisce and it’s good for all those social wellbeing stimulations.”

Seeing what is in the memory trunk more often than not also encourages story telling.

“They are completely engaged in two-way communication, it’s uplifting to watch.”

After the success in Katikati, the next logical step was to bring the memory trunk to Te Puke.

“We do want to share our stories with the whole Western Bay district, which includes Te Puke, so Te Puke was our next step.”

The hope is to visit all three Te Puke rest homes every month.

The initiative also gives the museum collection a wider audience by getting it into the community.

“These collection objects are purely for story telling purposes — they are from our handling collection, they are not valuable objects. So it’s a win-win for everyone.”

A “blue bag”, used in laundry to get a blue whiteness, is one of the most popular objects.

“They all remember it - and one of the things they say is that it was great for bee stings.”

There is no charge for the visits.

“That’s another reason it is so appealing because that can be a barrier to a lot of people.”

Paula says the museum is seeking funding to cover costs.

“It’s a real feel-good thing we are doing, we feel we are doing something really great. It puts a smile on your face and that’s a hard step sometimes these days.”