The 1988 European Championship final. Or Neil Armstrong who was the first man to land on the moon. The elderly of residential care center Het Ankel in Meppel went back in time for a while, by watching television images from the past. This so-called Living Room of Then is an initiative of the Nationaal Ouderenfonds and Ziggo. In the near future, they will visit various nursing homes to allow the elderly to relive unique moments from the past.
“I thought it was nice, interesting,” says Geesje de Vries (93) when the four-minute show has ended. “And it’s all in color, it’s fantastic,” adds Jan Janssen (68). The images show highlights of 70 years of television in the living room.
Those of the moon landing and Martin Luther King immediately evoked memories in Janssen. “I’ve seen all that. I sold TVs back then. I sold the first color TV.” De Vries remembers it all ‘a little’. “I was very young then, so you forget all that again.”
Marlanda Blaauw, welfare coordinator at Het Ankel, emphasizes how important it is for the elderly to reminisce about fun memories. “That story that they first got television, that comes back now. It’s a good stimulation for the brain; a moment of happiness.”
“It was fun TV, laugh,” says Janssen about the fragments with Uncle Willem and Andre van Duin. “You don’t see these kinds of programs on TV anymore,” he says. “It’s all talk shows, talk shows and the news now.” De Vries agrees. “Everything is different than before.” Is it more fun, or less fun? “Less fun,” she decides resolutely.