This year, we piloted something new at the centre: a reminiscence-based programme. In plain terms, it uses memory as the starting point. Each session of Our Treasure Box takes one theme, such as ang pow, vinyl records, photography or Chinese dialects, and uses it to draw out what our members remember.
Members bring their own records, record players, antique cameras and keepsakes. Together we look at how these things came to be, how they worked, and what they meant. Then the reminiscence games begin, and one object opens a story. Every session ends with a dessert made by a member, who is celebrated and shares the recipe.
We expected the treasure to be the objects. It turned out to be the people holding them.
Members plan the programme themselves, with our staff guiding from the side. Our two lead volunteers, both in their seventies, started from zero. We taught them to use AI for research and Canva to build interactive presentations. They took to both quickly, and now they prepare every session themselves.
More than 40 members come each time. They prepare ahead, ask what the next topic will be, and take visible pride in one another when someone shares. Behind every object on the table is a story, and behind every story is someone who has lived it.
Seniors are often spoken of as people to be cared for. In Our Treasure Box, they are the ones who open the box, and what they bring out is worth more than anything we could have put inside.
