Memories Cafe

We’re delighted to update our readers on our new initiative, the Memories Cafe.  The planning is done and we’re up and running.

We had held our first Cafe in March 2026 and were delighted to welcome a few visitors.  The March theme was ‘Our Early Years from 1921 to 1938’ and ‘Uniforms’.  We had items from our early years on display, along with a number of uniform items – shirts, tops, hats, belts, neckies and kilts, all showing their dates and, where known, the owners.

The theme for the April Cafe (Sunday, 5 April – yes, we are meeting on Easter Sunday) is Flags and Pennants.  There will be lots on display (our Rover Scouts were never shy at collecting pennants from their travels), so come along and perhaps try testing your knowledge of where the pennants and flags are from, identifying the towns, cities and countries on a map of Scotland, the UK and the world.  We look forward to seeing you – details are below.

Here’s a little bit of background as to why we think the Cafe is important and will become an integral part of our Scout Group:

When we realised how large and varied our archive is, we thought we should use it for community support.  To progress this we spoke to Alzheimer Scotland with a view to us setting up a monthly coffee afternoon for Scouts/former Scouts, and anyone who has a Scout connection, especially those who have dementia and their carers (equally the carer could have been a Scout), using the archive as a talking point to bring back memories.  If you have no Scout connection, you’ll also be welcome to visit us to see our archive, have a cuppa and a chat.

We’re delighted that Alzheimer Scotland are happy to support us and assisted by providing Dementia Awareness Sessions.  The Sessions were very interesting and informative in helping us prepare for our Memories Cafe, so our sincere thanks to Carolyn Irvine, the Renfrewshire Dementia Adviser for giving up her evenings to lead the Sessions.