A virtual reality experience created by Dundee games developers will transport football fans living with dementia back to the glory days of Hampden Park.

Abertay University graduates created the VR experience which lets users feel the sights and sounds of Scotland’s national stadium in the 1960s, as part of a partnership with Alzheimer Scotland.

Installed at Hampden’s Scottish Football Museum, the technology brings to life three key elements of bygone match days – travelling to the game, clicking through the turnstiles and cheering from the vast terraces.

The VR project aims to offer therapeutic taster experiences and builds on a partnership begun by Alzheimer Scotland and the Scottish Football Museum in 2009.

Their joint Football Memories Scotland initiative uses old photographs, film and memorabilia to trigger a refresh of moments that were once vivid in people’s minds.

“As soon as I put on the headset it took me right back to when I was seven years old, when my brother John took me to my first football match at Celtic park,” said Patricia Clark, 73, from Glasgow, who lives with a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease and is a member of the Football Memories Scotland group.

She added: “I could see all the men wearing their caps and could even smell their cigarette smoke. It was amazing. It brought back so many memories that had been buried. Now I’ve got them back again, it’s wonderful.”

“It’s sparked so many conversations among thepeople who’ve tried it, and brought back things that people haven’t thought of for a long time. It’s even given my family a boost because they were delighted I could remember these things. It gives me a wonderful pride in Glasgow to think of all the people who are going to experience this and benefit so much from it.”

Fans from Football Memories Scotland groups have played a key role in shaping the themes and content of the new immersive experience.

VR content, using archive material, has been co-created by people living with dementia, researchers at Abertay University and the designers from Dundee-based video game developer crab.Bit.

The initiative has been backed by the Digital Health and Care Innovation Centre, which supports transformational collaboration between universities and businesses.

Scottish Government funding has also enabled Alzheimer Scotland to purchase a Meta Quest 2 virtual reality headset for each of its 26 Dementia Resource Centres.

The charity has trained 35 of its staff to become digital champions, who can offer VR experiences to local community groups.

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Feedback from groups who have trialled the headsets revealed that all who took part reported an improvement in mood and 75% experienced a reduction in anxiety.

Findlay Duncan Lyon, a developer with crab.Bit, said: “We were incredibly excited to be given the opportunity to recreate the memorable atmosphere of Hampden Park in the 1960s. Our team of five worked for many weeks to craft and model these three experiences, alongside receiving feedback and input for Alzheimer Scotland to inform us on how to make it the best it could be.

“It is an incredible privilege to have worked on something as meaningful and important as this.”