Chartwell House Helps Palace Cinema Go Dementia Friendly
The Palace Cinema in Broadstairs has spent the past year thinking hard about who its doors are really open to. A local institution built on shared armchairs and shared stories, the cinema wanted to make sure a dementia diagnosis was never a reason for someone to stop coming. That ambition has now taken a concrete step forward, with its own team made dementia aware and its own dementia-friendly screenings up and running.
“It was such a valuable and useful experience for all of us, and your delivery really made it what it was, made us really reflect on dementia and what the screenings at the Palace can be,” says Corinna Downing of The Palace Cinema.
The session Corinna refers to came from Jaye Hurst, Admissions Manager at nearby Chartwell House. On 25 August, Jaye swapped her usual seat behind the admissions desk for one in front of six Palace Cinema staff, talking them through what dementia is and how to support someone living with it. The session followed the Dementia Friends programme, an Alzheimer’s Society initiative built to help people understand dementia and change the way they think, talk and act about it, so they can better support those living with it.
“I wanted to deliver this session myself because trust is built in the small, everyday moments, not just in a care plan,” says Jaye. “When a family is looking for a care home, what they’re really asking is whether their loved one can still go and do ordinary things: see a film, have a coffee out, feel part of the town they’ve always known. Helping a cinema team understand dementia means Broadstairs itself becomes a bit more open to the people who live with it, not just Chartwell House.”
The very next day, that new format was already in action. Chartwell House residents joined the Palace Cinema and Chartwell teams for the cinema’s dementia-friendly screening of the 1955 classic “The Seven Year Itch”, settling in with popcorn and drinks for a film that brought memories flooding back for some of them. Afterward, everyone stayed on for a reminiscence session, swapping thoughts on the film and the memories it had stirred.
That choice of film was no accident. Guides from the BFI Film Audience Network and Inclusive Cinema note that dementia-friendly screenings of classic films can promote mental activity and stimulation, and act as a valuable tool for reminiscence. Even when short-term memory is affected, a well-loved old film can surface memories that have stayed intact for decades, giving people something to hold on to and talk over together.
“You could see it on their faces the moment the film started, that spark of recognition,” says Taryn, Head of Lifestyle and Wellbeing at Chartwell House. “But it was the conversation afterward that stayed with me. Residents were finishing each other’s sentences about scenes they remembered from years ago. That’s what good wellbeing support looks like: not just an outing, but something that gives people a reason to connect with each other.”
Helping a resident get to the cinema, and making sure the welcome waiting for them there was a genuinely good one, is exactly the standard Chartwell House holds itself to every day, whether anyone is watching or not.
