The Local History Café programme was established by Crafting Relationships in October 2017 as heritage and wellbeing get-togethers for over 50s, at risk of, experiencing or looking to keep at bay, social isolation and loneliness.
After years of engaging in various community-focused projects, Pamela Campbell-Morris thought of an innovative way to enhance the delivery of serious messages using the cultural game of domino as a vehicle.
So far, this approach has been very effective and the message is gradually getting through, with specialist nurses reporting an increase in more black men coming forward to get checked. We have also noted a positive difference in the engagement and willingness to talk more openly about prostate cancer.
The ‘Play Domino, Talk Prostate’ launch event on 10th March 2017 was a very effective collaboration between the Centre for BME Health, Prostate Cancer UK and ProstAID, and gave individuals the opportunity to play dominoes with friends and families in a very informal setting whilst receiving verbal messages from our speakers on the day, specially designed leaflets, key rings and bottle openers, which highlighted the statistics specifically to African Caribbean men were handed out to every attendee.
In May 2020, we released a comic book called “The Domino Effect”, which reflects this innovative approach and will further enhance our work and message in this area. You can download the comic book as a PDF below, or contact The Centre for Ethnic Health Research to request a printed copy.
The campaign was also really successful at engaging with high-profile black public figures and securing video interviews and endorsements. Famous faces included actor and comedian Sir Lenny Henry, musician Billy Ocean and actor Des Coleman. You can see a selection of clips below.
This comic book was used as the inspiration for the animation seen below.
