University’s Exhibition to Stimulate Cricketing Memories

An exhibition of caricatures of cricketing legends is being hosted at the University of Worcester on Wednesday, as part of the City’s Active Ageing Week.

The free exhibition takes place at the Art House on Castle Street, on Wednesday, October 2, between 5pm and 7pm, and has been put together following sessions at the Worcestershire Cricket Memories Dementia Café.

It will feature caricatures of sporting stars, mainly cricketers, including former University of Worcester graduate Daryl Mitchell and current captain Joe Leach done by local artist Dave Wallace.  Also on display will be a poem by 1960s cricket commentator John Arlott called Cricket at Worcester.  There is also a chance to look through former Worcester student Richard Bentley’s book A Celebration of New Road, Worcester – “A Special Place”, an anthology of people’s memories of cricket at New Road over the decades. 

The exhibition is designed to stimulate cricketing memories of days gone by at New Road and has been put together following the success of the Worcestershire Cricket Memories Dementia Café, which University sports staff have been running for the last 12 months with support from Worcestershire County Cricket Club, volunteers and Worcestershire County Cricket Supporters’ Association. Many participants are local cricket members, some of whom have a diagnosis of early onset dementia, and the café helps with reminiscence therapy.

Ex-County players, including Alan Ormrod, Martin Weston, Neil Radford and Stuart Lampitt, have given up their time to lead a session at the Cafe, bringing medals, cricket bats, photographs and programmes to stimulate memories.  Recently University staff ran a catching and movement activity workshop.  At another session, artist Dave Wallace took along caricature images he had produced of former cricketers, which provoked much discussion. Inspired by this, Sport colleagues teamed up with Illustration colleagues at the University to create Wednesday’s exhibition. 

Glyn Harding, Principal Lecturer in Sports Coaching Science at the University, who has led the project, said: “Art can be a great medium for expression and there’s lots of ways that sport and art can overlap so it’s great to be able to combine our expertise.  The literature around dementia shows that people with the condition can continue to live well but need to be socially included, do exercise and be stimulated cognitively.  The reminiscence sessions we have been running contributes in this area and has had a positive response from participants.  We hope this exhibition will both bring back memories for visitors but also highlight the sessions and their benefits to a wider audience.”

People attending the exhibition can also find out more about the Wednesday morning dementia cafe sessions, which start the following week, October 9, running 11am and 1pm, at New Road. Admission to the exhibition is free and open to anyone with an interest in cricket.

The exhibition forms part of the Active Ageing Week taking place in Worcester this week, with a range of activities to promote the benefits of physical activity and help older members of the community be more active.

The University of Worcester has partnered with the International Council on Active Ageing for the week-long event (October 1 to October 7), with a host of free workshops, public talks and physical activity taster sessions.

Image credit: Dave Wallace