Fingal County Council announces special Memory Makers radio programme on Near FM

Guests including poet Peter Owens from Malahide, drama student Maureen Penrose from Blanchardstown and artist Nancy Dempsey from Portrane talk about their life experiences, creative pursuits and share poems and favourite songs with listeners. Fingal County Council Community Officer Veronica Forsgren who coordinated and managed the Memory Makers project also appears.

'Voyage Around My Brain' is a new series on NearFM Community Radio researched, presented and produced by Karen Meenan which features experts from the Global Brain Health Institute GBHI meeting with community experts to discuss different aspects of brain health.  The programme won a Gold Award in the Social Benefit category of the CRAOL Community Radio National Awards which were held recently.

Mayor of Fingal Cllr David Healy said: "The special Memory Makers edition for 2020 was an invaluable opportunity to express, record and give voice to the feelings, experiences, and stories of people across Fingal.

"I look forward to the broadcast and thank NearFM for its participation and assistance."

Chief Executive of Fingal County Council AnnMarie Farrelly said: "Creativity and artistic responses to events like the Covid-19 pandemic are an important way to experience and strengthen community life, and Fingal County Council has endeavoured to make it accessible to people of all backgrounds, ages and life experiences.

"The coming appearance on NearFM is another step in this process and promises to be an interesting and worthwhile listen."

'Voyage Around My Brain' is a follow-up series to the very popular 'Reminiscence on the Radio' also on NearFM which featured different years from 1950 to 1970 featuring the voices of people living in the community. Karen was asked which guests were living with dementia and which were caregivers, and her answer was: "Everyone has a story to tell, if you can't tell who is living with dementia, and who isn't, and you're just engaged listening to their story, then it doesn't matter - their voice is just as valid as anyone else in the community."

The programme will be available a few days after as a podcast on:

http://nearfm.ie/podcast/?s=voyage

http://nearfm.ie/podcast/?s=reminiscence

For further information, see:

Memory Makers https://www.fingal.ie/news/memorymakersreflectionsandrecollections

Global Brain Health Institute www.gbhi.org 

NearFM www.near.ie