Sport is a powerful tool – and now it’s being harnessed to help those living with dementia revive some priceless memories.

Cage Cricket, in collaboration with Hampshire County Cricket Club and local dementia charity, Dementia Friendly Hampshire, have run a series of ‘dementia days’ at the county’s Ageas Bowl home over the summer, allowing those living with the condition to not only watch a match in comfort and safety but also enabling them to pick up bats, balls and the sport’s modern-day coloured clothing.

The results have been impressive, with those involved rolling back the years to bowl to each other, share their memories of the sport and, perhaps most importantly, offer their carers and loved-ones a priceless glimpse of their previous selves.

So successful has the partnership been that Cage Cricket are now in talks with Alzheimer’s UK, with a view to rolling the project out across the country.

A similar project has already begun with dementia charities and cricket clubs in Dorset as charities look to take advantage of the tremendous benefits that sport can deliver.