Volunteers are needed to help people who cannot remember their early lives reconnect with their past and encourage chat with those around them.Four people help out at Gorleston's Magdalen Memory Club based at the Methodist Church where around 15 people with varying degrees of memory loss benefit from activities aimed at helping them to replay the slideshow of their lives.

Volunteers are needed to help people who cannot remember their early lives reconnect with their past and encourage chat with those around them.

Four people help out at Gorleston's Magdalen Memory Club based at the Methodist Church where around 15 people with varying degrees of memory loss benefit from activities aimed at helping them to replay the slideshow of their lives.

Founder Mel Thomas said a range of activities helped people to hear, taste, touch and smell their memories perhaps by handling objects from the past or sitting at old school desk and dipping into the inkwell.

Mrs Thomas said the members, who were mostly over 50, also enjoyed a hot lunch at the Wednesday sessions which could not expand and take any more clients without more volunteers.

She said volunteers needed only the ability to understand and show patience and would receive full training, expenses and job satisfaction. Tasks ranged from setting tables to leading group work, playing memory games and encouraging the clients to tap into their memories and share them with others, encouraging social interaction.

With enough volunteers she would like the club to mirror the St Andrews Memory Club whose 40 members meet on a Tuesday helped by around 20 volunteers.

To find out more contact Mel on 01493 600040 or Jean on 662754.