A virtual reality project is helping elderly people with dementia by recreating moments from the 1950s.

Care home residents in Surrey have been using cardboard headsets to watch a 360-degree video immersing them in the Queen's Coronation Day celebrations from 1953.

Dan Cole and Andy Garnett, who started The Wayback project with friends, made the re-enactment film with a cast and crew of volunteers, using a budget raised through crowd-funding.

They are now hoping to get financial support to create a "memory bank" of moments from a number of different decades.

I tried out the experience with one of the care home's residents, Beryl Weston, and saw a crowd of people in fancy dress singing cheerily on a bright sunny day in London.


"My dear! What a wonderful lot of people!" Beryl shouted.

One resident, Daphne, said she had spotted a little boy dressed as a guardsman, while another resident called Elsbeth was able to give a description of the sky.

Elsbeth's daughter, Camilla Ford, said the footage helped trigger conversations with her mother.

"I wouldn't normally ask mum if she remembers specific events because that's quite a challenging thing to do, whereas when you've actually got a specific reaction to a specific thing then you can explore it," she said.

Dan and Andy smiled as they watched us from the other side of the room - presumably delighted at the success of the video's ability to spark positive reactions, which was exactly why they created the project.

Dan said he discovered how effective sights and sounds could be for people with Alzheimer's after his father had the disease.

"I took him on a drive back to his old stomping ground, his old haunts in Camden Town and it was like he was completely back in the room," he said.

"(When) going down streets he'd get all the memories back from that time".

Image: One of the Coronation Day scenes from the VR headsets

Anyone can experience The Wayback film for free using a phone and a cardboard headset.

The app is free and Andy and Dan say they are not making any money out of the project.

They are now hoping to make a series of films - featuring different decades - to form a "virtual reality memory bank" if they can get enough financial support.

Not everyone will have happy memories of the same moment in time so carers of people with dementia are advised to keep an eye out for any negative emotional reactions.

But Dr David Sheard, of training provider Dementia Care Matters, said for most people the immersive experience can bring a lot of joy,

"One of the great things to remember about people with dementia is that all you have is now, you're living in the moment and they have much to teach us about that," he said.

"You're freed up from all the clutter of life and all the stuff, and you can really, really experience the joy and pleasure in the moment.

"That's a fantastic validation of feeling "I'm alive still'".

You can see the Coronation Day film at thewaybackVR.com or by downloading the app.

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