The Trebus Project

An amazing archive of stories by people with dementia

Shortly before I met him, David had a Radio 4 series of monologues by people with dementia read by actors including Kathy Burke and Juliet Stevenson. He’s just launched a Substack to share the ground-breaking work he did as The Trebus Project. The project tells the stories of ‘ordinary’ people that would otherwise have been lost to history.

If you’ve been touched by dementia or know someone who has, or are just curious as to how the human brain makes sense of confusing situations, the stories are fascinating.

You can subscribe at dclegg.substack.com

Here’s what David says about the work

The Trebus Project is a unique archive containing more than 200 first-person stories pieced together from my conversations with people with dementia.

I created the archive while working in care homes over the course of 15 years, gathering stories that would otherwise have been lost to history.

The archive contains the whole sweep of life in the 20^th century – from diplomats and members of the aristocracy to homeless people and petty criminals. While most of the stories fall into the broad category of social histories, albeit of an unusual type, others are so heavy with imagery and metaphor that they resemble poetry.

Although it is easy to see people experiencing dementia as child-like, they are nothing of the sort. Just as there would be in any other cross-section of society, there are controversial opinions, occasional racism, drunkenness and frequent references to sex and sexuality. A number of stories include disturbing memories such as child abuse, poverty and war. Their uncensored words help make sense of behaviour that was previously dismissed as nothing more than confusion due to a worsening dementia: Sid is in mourning, Catherine is distressed by poverty and anti-Semitism, and Gladys still searches for the brother she lost on the beaches of Dunkirk.

Some of the stories were published in limited-edition Arts Council funded books and on a vinyl record. In 2011 actors including Kathy Burke and Richard Briers performed the monologues for Ancient Mysteries – a Radio 4 series produced by Charlie Higson and Paul Whitehouse.

“Imagine an audio social history of the 20th century, told in scattershot sentences, explosions of rage, elation and sorrow, and the odd bombshell of heart wrenching howling emotion.” Jane Anderson - Radio Times.

“A startling collision between Samuel Beckett, Karlheinz Stockhausen and Tom Waits.” Mark Gould - The Guardian.

With the books and record out of print I have decided to make the content available on Substack. I’ll be posting some of my favourite stories, as well as some I’ve never shared before.

I chose the name Trebus Project after Edmund Trebus, a collector of things society has no use for.

In 2020 I was awarded a British Empire Medal for my services to people with dementia.

Edmund Trebus at home (D’s place was marginally tidier)