The former Yorkshire golf caddy who is hitting dementia for six

Social enterprise Sporting Memories is a success story made in Yorkshire. Grant Woodward speaks to its colourful founder, Tony Jameson-Allen.
Tony Jameson-Allen with Kira Drabble and Charlie Roberts from Sporting Memories at Headingley Cricket Ground. Picture by Simon HulmeTony Jameson-Allen with Kira Drabble and Charlie Roberts from Sporting Memories at Headingley Cricket Ground. Picture by Simon Hulme
Tony Jameson-Allen with Kira Drabble and Charlie Roberts from Sporting Memories at Headingley Cricket Ground. Picture by Simon Hulme

AS a golf caddy on the European Tour, Tony Jameson-Allen collected his fair share of golden moments. Carrying the bag of journeyman Irish pro John O’Leary, his first day on the job saw him rolling balls back to his charge on the practice green when a familiar figure entered stage right.

“I’ve still got the picture on my desk,” he grins. “I fished a disposable camera out of my bag and got a friend to take a picture of me and Seve together. It was magical.”

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Jameson-Allen, from Topcliffe in North Yorkshire, is now collecting sporting memories from the entire country. At last count he’s up to 7,000 of them – all designed to help in the fight against dementia and loneliness.

His social enterprise, Sporting Memories, has gone from small beginnings in Leeds to a success story that’s fast spreading to every corner of the country.

Lottery funding announced this week worth just shy of £500,000 will enable the project to continue to operate in Yorkshire as well as in Manchester, London, Bristol, Hampshire and Scotland.

In five years, it has trained and supported volunteers in more than 400 organisations, been backed by bodies such as the MCC and the Professional Footballers’ Association, and had memories donated to its website by sporting stars including David Coulthard and Sir Steve Redgrave.

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The idea behind it all is to tap into the shared bonds and experiences that sport creates – giving men much-needed connections where they didn’t know they existed.

They’re brought together for 90 minutes a week with photos, magazines and programmes used to help stimulate memories. It’s even been known for Bovril and meat pies to be served at half-time.

“Sports fans are members of a whole number of communities,” says Jameson-Allen. “Whether it’s football or cricket, Leeds United or Sheffield Wednesday, even down to which pub they drink in before a game.

“Sport provides memories of great games and sporting legends, but also the friendships made and the sense of community that playing or watching sports brings. Talking about sporting events and cultures of the time helps to give people their identity back and reconnect them to the people and generations around them. It helps them to feel alive again.”

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The idea grew from his time working as a psychiatric nurse at the now closed High Royds Hospital in Leeds. He loved every minute of it – chiefly because of the potential to make connections with people who some might have considered unreachable.

Eventually made redundant by the NHS, he launched the not-for-profit Sporting Memories with colleague Chris Wilkins, the pair having kicked around the idea at various conferences down the years. Originally designed for dementia sufferers, groups are now open to all men over the age of 50.

It even publishes its own version of the traditional Saturday paper Pink ’Un, complete with a spot-the-ball competition. Jameson-Allen says they found that women were particularly keen. “Many had a shared memory of not being allowed to fill these in, as husbands liked to mark where the ball should be.”

He insists he isn’t surprised at how successful Sporting Memories has proved – because he saw how the idea resonated with people and recognised its potential. “What has been wonderful,” he says, “is how sport and the public have really embraced it.”

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Still, the scale of the breakthrough only truly hit home with an invitation into the Test Match Special box.

“Ten years ago there was a stigma around older people and dementia. Now here I was talking about it with Jonathan Agnew on live radio.”

It’s another treasured memory to add to his ever growing trove.

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