“Three years ago, I began volunteering with Museums Alive, a project run by Edinburgh Museums & Galleries and the city council’s health and social care departments, through which we take museum collections to council-run day centres and care homes, and use the objects to inspire reminiscence sessions and art projects.

A favourite object from our lending boxes is Foxy, now employed in reminiscence after a (sadly curtailed) career as a fox and a high-fashion scarf. He’s part of the Fashion and Going-out box, which always stimulates plenty of memories and gossip.

There are other fancy clothes in the collection – hats, gloves, even an embroidered dress that would have pride of place in any vintage shop.

But Foxy often gets a special reaction. I once showed Foxy to a lady with advanced dementia who had previously not participated in the session. She took him in her lap, started stroking him like a cat and began to speak about her family.

Alongside this project, I am working on an oral history project interviewing former lighthouse keepers and I also teach at the University of Edinburgh.
 
At their heart, my job and my volunteering are both about conversations and connecting people.”