[Music] hello my name is Nichola Stone and I am the learning and activity manager at Sean Tramway in East Devon and I'm also a director there and I lead on equality diversity and inclusion and I'm going to talk to you a little bit today about what we did as part of the en project um to work with people living with dementia and getting them out into the outside environment um through a new activity called Wetlands Explorer um a little bit to put it into context if you've never visited the traway
before we opened in the to the public in August 1970 um we actually uh were in existence a long time before that at various locations around the country on least land um and ended up in Satan trenway when the branch line closed in 1966 um so we uh we actually bought the the land and own the land now um it's a three mile stretch from Sean to citon and we travel through the uh it's it's located on the Jurassic Coast which is a beautiful part of the world an area of outstanding natural beauty and u
m we have 14 Heritage style trams the oldest one is dating from 19 1904 um it's a three mile route we start at the our very modern station at Sean and we travel through to colliton and we go so on the left hand side as you travel from south to North you'll pass through satum wetlands and on the right you we travel past the axe estery so it really is a very beautiful part of the world um in 2015 we became a charity and um I've just picked out a couple of our charitable objectives because they the
y do link very well with this project so the first one is to advance the education of the general public in the history Heritage and operation of tramways and Narrow Gauge Heritage trams and in the native Wildlife flora and FAA of Devon and Dorset and that's the bit that really links with this project and also to advance the Arts culture Heritage and conservation in the southwest of England so today seat and Tramway um we are a tourist attraction but we are also considered to be a public transpo
rt service we attract over 990,000 visitors a year and that's growing year on year um and in 2018 we opened this fantastic really modern station to replace a an old um replica Edwardian Terminus building so this is our new state-of-the-art um station which is really visible when you come into sea as you come through towards the sea front it's really is there right in front of you apart from running a regular tram service throughout the well throughout most of the year we do a whole range of spec
ial events um and activities so one of them is bird watching tra which is one on on the far side there uh we also over the last few years we've been hosting the natural seatan Festival uh which takes place every July well over a weekend in July um we have a a story tra for uh parents with small children uh we have dinosaur shows which have just taken place last weekend in the station and we have a memory TR for people with dementia and their carers and then at Christmas the whole of Satan Tramwa
y is transformed into a Christmas Extravaganza with the Polar Express tram ride and um the citon station our Victorian station at the far the end of the line becomes the North Pole and it really is something quite special um so we've been on quite a journey um with regard to accessibility and inclusion and we we're doing really quite well um um but the this project has really helped us on that Journey so all of our our stations are accessible with level or ramp access we built three new accessib
le transs in in the 2000s um over a period of three years uh the problem with our heritage trans is going back to 1904 even up to 1950s and 60s accessibility was not on the agenda so most of our TRS have got quite a high floor base and that's a problem for anyone who has a Mobility problem so we we design three big double deckers which have a low floor base and wheelchair accessible bays and they they're accessible via Ram they are fantastic but they do they're not great in bad weather because t
he wheelchair bays are open to the elements so I'll talk a bit about that in a minute how we're resolving that um in 202 23 so at the end of last year we actually enclosed one of those wheelchair Bays on not on this train but on the we have a blue one that's exactly the same so that that's now enclosed which means that people with Mobility problems can actually travel in Comfort now and not get soaked through which was often the case because of the weather being so temperamental um some other th
ings we we've done recently um we've had hearing Loops installed and voice trans transfer systems at at the ticket offices we've got accessibility guides visual guides and easy read guides um we've got BSL videos British sign language videos available on iPads which are available to high actually to borrow higher Staff training is really important to us so last year we we had four um disability related staff training sessions which are open to all staff and also to our volunteers um and then at
the end of last year we actually won the visit Devon Gold Award for accessible and inclusive tourism the previous year we'd won bronze so we were really delighted to have gone up to Gold it was it was um it was due to a lot of hard work and we are a disability confident employer um and we're working our way now towards disability confident leader status as well um just very quickly to put this into context some of our activities have been funded through the National Lottery Heritage fund uh in 2
019 we were awarded a substantial Grant um and that enabled us to open two new halt stations one was at Riverside which is where our Depot is where all the engineering takes place and one is at se Wetlands um and they've both got level access for accessibility and some of our new activities that were funded by the lottery are story tram memory tram and also a quiet tram for people who have sensory issues and need to just get away from the crowd so those operate out of ours um and we also operate
Depo tours for uh TR enthusiasts and we've worked with a range of new audiences um schools so we have a formal learning program now we work with people with dementia people with Autism special interest groups and young people so we we were running a young carers club for some time as well so the Lottery money has really enabled us to reach new audiences through lots of aniy new activities just some pictures this is our new Wetlands halt under construction and you can see it's a level boardwalk
and takes you down right through into the center of the wetlands where there is a fantastic read based Center and a discovery center and also the toilets so now people get off the trams for the first time and actually access this natural environment this beautiful nature reserve and they don't have to drive there so it's being really well used very very popular with our visitors and that's our oldest tram tram 14 at our new Riverside Port memory tram and this is what really started our work with
people with dementia um it runs every month and it basically involves a um a trip on a tram to our colliton station where we have a a lovely Garden Room where we do activities and this one was our pilot memory tram and um it was two memory cafes came along and had a fantastic time we had thing 1960s Seaside Satan so um we had a no knes competition we had a 1960s Sal bu we had a a singer who sang 1960s songs and we had dancing in the aisles and it really was a fantastic session and we had then h
ad an opportunity to reminise using items like you can see 1960s sort of Home items which triggered so many memories it really was a lovely session as a result of being involved with people with dementia through the memory TR we were contacted by the university and asked if we' be involved with the en liven project and we were delighted um we really wanted to broaden our dementia offer um because we were aware that the people coming to the memory tram event mostly had Fairly Advanced dementia an
d we wanted to open it up to people who were still quite independent living with dementia but loved being outdoors and didn't necessarily want to be come into the Tramway with a carer or in a group so we made it dementia supportive rather than specifically for people with dementia so it's actually open to anybody um we wanted to access the expertise of the research group and also of the um of everyone involved all the other businesses the focus group everybody we wanted to learn more about demen
tia as a staff and we wanted to be able to um to engage more with the SE and Wetland team which is actually E7 District Council we already were doing some activities with them but we wanted we knew that this was a way of of actually really cementing that partnership um and also it gave us an opportunity to share our experience is with people like you um also as a community organization we are a commercial organization as well as well as a charity and we wanted to really show the local community
that we are actually doing things for the local community and we're not it's not just about profit this is our Wetlands Explorer poster and I'm going to talk to you a little bit about what that involved so it was as I said it was a dementia supportive activity open to anybody so there was no requirement for anybody to come with a career um we knew that we had the staff who had the training who could actually support this um and uh so we were for the first time we were confident enough to do that
it was free of charge because um normally we would charge a small amount for these activities but the funding allowed us to off this free of charge um we partnered with the wetlands Rangers at se wetlands and it involved five sessions five visits from so starting at Satan we took the tram which is about 12 minute Journey to the wetlands we got off at the wetlands and we walked into the wetlands read base and had activities a variety of different activities and they were all themed around art na
ture or wellbeing and here I'm I'm just going to go through the activities we did very quickly so the first one was all about watercolor painting and there you'll see Fran who delivered that Fran's here today and she led a fantastic uh watercolor activity which was perfectly pitched everybody was able to have a go but there was no pressure to get involved so there were a couple of people who were a little bit reluctant there were some carers or spouses who said I'm usess at Art I can't do anythi
ng I I just can't do it well this picture here was done by one of one of the men who came along with dementia his wife who was the one that said there's no way I can't I can't draw she did that and she did that in about an hour and went home with it everybody went home with something and we had a lovely display at the end where everybody could see each other's work and it really was um a fantastic afternoon so thank you to Fran and Fran told me that she said that she was Keen to work with us to
deliver this session because she wanted to Pilot a mindfulness activity around painting which was in a place where it was possible to be at peace with your inner feelings and to express yourself on paper without the need to actually articulate the words and so for SE for her San Tramway and the en liven project and abled her to do that the second session was another art session led by by one of the Rangers at the wetlands that was cyanotype Art and we all came away with a beautiful I'm not going
to go into what cyanotype is but we came away with pictures like this which some people have now framed I believe and put on their walls um in August we did BD bird watching we we're lucky to have one of our managers is a an expert bird watcher who knows everything about bird watching and he led a lovely activity where we went to the hides and we're able to see some nesting aets who uh these avets have never haven't been on the wetlands for many many years decades I believe and last year was th
e first time we had them breeding and we were lucky to actually see them we saw the parents and the babies so that was really exciting um and then we went back to the read base and had a lovely activity a really fun activity how to draw Birds step by step led by me and I'm not an artist but I found it on the internet and we had lots of f um September we did some outdoor mindfulness so that involved listening to the rushes blowing in the wind listening to the birds it was very quiet there there w
ere no other people there um really really lovely we also did a mindful drawing activity where we we closed our eyes eyes and Drew what was on the paper you know what would came into our minds without seeing what was on the paper that was lots of fun lots of people worried about doing that but actually it didn't matter cuz nobody looked at it and then we went back afterwards and we brewed some tea some wild teas which I have to say had mixed success some of them were really not very nice anyway
it was it was fun and then the last session in October was a natural sculpture session and we had a lovely local man from lime reges who came and and did he B all his tools his drills nuts and bolts and we made um structures out of natural material IAL and each one was completely different some were tiny some were big and again everybody went home and something so what went well um I would say that firstly we definitely attracted new people to the Tramway that would never I'm told they've told m
e themselves they would never have felt comfortable coming to an organization like that because they would feel that they wouldn't know whether they would be looked after um we were able to gather feedback and actually talk to people with dementia and work with people dementia through the project to actually put this together which has been incredibly valuable um some of the participants became regulars and actually have become we've become quite good friends uh we're still in touch they want to
come come back again this year um everybody tells me they learned something new including the staff as well so for us as as an organization we learned about dementia but we also learned new SK skills everybody learned something new whether it was painting sculptures something about wild life our partnership working with SE and wet has gone from strength strength to strength and we are definitely going to be continuing this this year um I see these sessions as being professional development for
for our staff and volunteers as well we've learned so much about the value of working with people with dementia and what what we need to do go forward to make small tweaks to our offer and the facilities at the wetlands worked out perfectly even though obviously being outside has its challenges and I'll talk about that some positive feedback from participants um one lady Rita her husband bill has got fairly Advanced dementia um she decided we we've also been involved in some film making as part
of in liing and she canell one of his cognitive sessions so that she could come to this she said it was of more benefit than actually the session itself so I think that speaks volumes um the other sets were a big hit that was one that was one um the lady that Drew that painted that beautiful paint and she said the other sets were amazing and most touching was Joyce who is the wife of Keith who has um Mish dementia she said thank you for holding our hands on this experience and for me that was th
at said it all that was the most important it really built participants confidence we went from people who wouldn't take heart in the first session to people who were coming to the last couple of sessions and couldn't wait to get there and were getting really stuck into those activities so we were very pleased with that and I'm told that it was sociable and fun so there was always Refreshments available with Mars and Spencer biscuits and I'm told that that was really they loveed with the biscuit
s um what we learned we learned definitely that there are benefits to being outside the words that that were were um coming up again and again was peace having space and a rest from the everyday monotony the difficulties everything you can just get away from it all um we did learn that targed marketing is very very important for for a company like ours because our our first session didn't take place because we didn't Market it to the right people and we didn't do it early enough word of mouth I
think this does grow through word of mouth as well so that did happen with us I think we also realize that walking um people who who say walking is no problem a 10-minute level walk is no problem actually it can be a problem and we have to assume that there will be people who will start that walk from the tram and will get halfway and will struggle so we are in future going to make sure we have wheelchairs available and we're going to install some small seats along the boardwalk so that people c
an have a seat have a rest if they need to um I've got a tendency to over plan things because I'm worried that people will run out things to do and get bored and I this is this is so wrong and I think this has come up again and again in some of the other talks no need to rush it's much better to allow time for talk and in enjoyment and rest and particularly when you're Outdoors so that is something that I've learned just plan for a few activities and see how it goes see how it takes you there's
always more tea and biscuits if in doubt um need to allow time for talking and reminiscing and for us don't rely on the weather we have had scorching weather where we thought we were all going to die of dehydration in the first session to really quite cold in July and feeling like we were going to be blown away we have to make sure that everybody when when we take bookings they know that they have to look at the weather on the day and come prepared and but actually most people said it's fine som
eone said to me our Skin's waterproof it's fine so um but as an organization we have to make sure there are things in place so that we um we're not caught out um as again as a company it can be quite tricky if people make do last minute cancellations because we have to get drivers in we have to get staff in for these special events I've had to change our way of thinking across the company because there is a tendency for people to all go mad oh no we're going to have to cancel we haven't got enou
gh people what I'm having to Train everybody to think is actually this this involves people with dementia on the day they might not be able to make it so we have to be more flexible and I think that's a a sea change now in our company we started to think along those lines trust and confidence is built familiarity so if we can get the same people coming more or less each time in and having new people come as well that Core Group really start to become confident and Trust the staff and that's real
ly important for them um and we don't ever ever say that anyone has to do anything they can come and just sit if they want to and that some people do they just come and sit and watch the carers really need to feel looked after too and I think that's what we're doing really well they they need to feel if they need to chat to us they can and we did give lots of time to the carers because they often wanted to tell tell us how they were feeling to so next steps We are continuing in in 2024 with the
Wetland Explorer um we continuing our partnership with the wetlands we've um got a new company called dementia Adventure who have booked several sessions with us um which is fantastic so they are a tourism company that organizes holidays for people with dementia and a friend spouse or carer um so this is new partnership so that's through en live I can honestly say that that wouldn't have happened if we hadn't been involved in this project we're becoming more flexible in terms of the dates and ti
mes that we're offering the weapons explor we're going to mark it directly to GPS and hospitals also Care Homes and memory cafes and we are also we've received some funding to help us build some new all weather accessible trams that's going to be over several years but we're on that journey and these will be Saloon trams or weather nobody will feel cold or wet when they're traveling them so that's something really exciting and finally I just want to say thank you to the team because this has bee
n a fabulous opportunity for St and Tramway and we've enjoyed every minute thank [Applause] [Music] you
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