Category: Blog

We had 24 members today. Lisa started the session with the 2pm Karaoke which everyone enjoyed and then at 2.30pm it was time for the chat session. Members were chatting about vaccines and the various difficulties and challenges getting an appointment.

Lisa welcomed everyone and was a pleasure today to also see Ava, Helen’s granddaughter who also enjoyed singing along and dancing to some of the songs during the session. It was also good to see the 2 care homes join – Carlton Court care home and Aarundale Manor care home.

Katie our music entertainer then joined 10 minutes before starting and was already engaged chatting with members which was really nice. Katie Paine was excited to use her new speaker especially after last week when her speaker broke. The new speaker worked perfectly and Katie was great as usual.

Eon Walters our exercise professional was then ready to start and as usual had everyone working out well to popular music.

The quiz today was taken by one of the carers – Kevin. He had prepared a picture quiz showing 10 London landmarks and members had to name them. Kevin was made co-host and was therefore able to take this part of the session. Although some landmarks were easy to identify, Kevin explained that this was also to give those we care for the opportunity to take part. Everyone enjoyed the quiz and Lisa thanked Kevin. Members also joined to thank Kevin. The prize for the winners (jokingly) was lunch at The London Dungeon.

Lisa then continued with reading a joke and then called out the Bingo numbers. The winner was Laurie Porter and as this was his 3rd win – he is now the Game 7 winner. Laurie announced however that he didn’t want any gift and wanted to give his gift to Mark who is our technical assistant making sure the session runs smoothly. Lisa thanked Laurie for his kind thought and Mark was also very grateful. A new Bingo game will now start tomorrow.

We had 22 members today. Lisa started the Karaoke session at 2pm and then the chat session started at 2.30pm. James Le Bec and Joy then joined us just before 3pm and wished everyone best wishes for a happy new year. Lisa informed James that there was a birthday today. It was Frances’s 88th birthday and everyone sang happy birthday to her. It was lovely to see Frances wearing a novelty birthday cake hat which was amusing. James sang a couple of Frances’s favourite songs and then he sang a Gerry and the Pacemakers song as a tribute as he recently passed away. James also informed everyone that he used to work together with Gerry. James then started the music quiz. Today’s quiz was about Television which was very interesting. The winners of the quiz were Helen and Keren with 8 out of 10. James then continues with asking members to name 10 famous names starting with the letter R. Everyone loves shouting out the answers. James finished off getting everyone to sing and move to ‘Drunken Sailor’

The session then continued with Rachel doing the exercises today as Richard was away. Rachel showed everyone some very good exercises and made them work out all parts of their body to some good music which was very motivating. In fact the cool down stretch was like Bollywood dancing.

Lisa then continued with telling everyone a joke and then doing a quiz looking back to 2020 one last time about TV films. Lisa then called out the Bingo numbers and the winner today was Laurie Porter again.

We had 23 members this evening. Lisa welcomed everyone giving best wishes for the New year and also welcomed Eshwan Seedoyal – Barnet Memory Service Team Leader and also welcomed Andrew Wrench – Community Development Manager at Carlton Court Care Home. Lisa opened the meeting to talk about the recent announcement of National lockdown and also about people’s concerns about receiving vaccinations. Lisa asked Eshwan and Andrew to first give everyone an update.

Andrew reported that Lateral Flow tests were now being done for care staff every morning and they were using the Hair Salon as a laboratory testing room. He also confirmed that nearly all the residents now have had their first vaccine. Staff are still also having a PCR test twice a week.

Eshwan reported that some of the staff contracted Covid but they were still managing and were being very careful. Eshwan said that this second Covid wave was not good. They are only now dealing with emergencies.

Lisa then opened the meeting to members and they asked various questions to Andrew and Eshwan. There were other discussions about personal issues and challenges and this led to a discussion about Lasting Powers of Attorney ‘LPA’ and how important it is to have a financial one and a health one. Lisa explained to everyone how she has completed her LPAs online on the Government website and explained what was required. Everyone was very pleased to learn about this.

Before the meeting closed, Lisa then asked Andrew whether he would be happy to do an informal training at our group meeting for 30 minutes. One of the subjects suggested was about how to deal with challenging behaviour. Andrew said that he would be very interested and will discuss this further with Lisa.

Lisa thanked Andrew and Eshwan and everyone also thanked Lisa and for this interesting and informative meeting.

We had 23 members today and we also had some new members join and Lisa made sure she introduced them. Everyone was eager to talk about the vaccines as some members already had their vaccines but some were still waiting. Lisa informed everyone that they should be more persistent with their GP surgeries to make sure that they have been added to the list to get a call. Lisa had to help with one of the members today who was having problems.

At 3pm Lisa and Mark then started the Karaoke session and there were a few requests today. Everyone enjoyed the singalong. The session then followed with a new exercise instructor today Rachel Karbaron. Lisa and all the members welcomed her and in fact Rachel’s parents were also present as new members. Rachel said a few words about herself and then introduced various exercises to some popular music which everyone enjoyed. Rachel also showed everyone some very simple steps and movements to some salsa and line dancing. Everyone’s feedback at the end was very positive and thanked Rachel. There was a surprise during the exercise session when one of Rachel’s dogs just suddenly shot past barking very loudly which made everyone laugh.

Lisa then continued with the session reading a joke and then had another 2020 quiz about Royal Family events. Lisa asked everyone to shout out the answers which they enjoyed doing. Lisa then called out the Bingo numbers and today’s winner was Laurie Porter.

Our first 2021 session and we had 25 members. Everyone said how they really missed the sessions over the holidays.

The session started with Karaoke music at 2pm and then at 2.30pm everyone had their chat time until 3pm. Lisa welcomed everyone with Happy New Year greetings and also showed them a Happy New Year short clip showing a display of beautiful flowers opening as fireworks. Lisa also introduced her robotic dog – Rex who was sitting next to her and responding to everyone like a real dog.

Everyone was very amused.

We also had brief chats about the vaccines and how some had their first vaccines but apparently were told that the second vaccine would have to be delayed longer. Some members also commented that as they were over 80 and 90 were still waiting for their first vaccine. Lisa mentioned that she was also waiting for her father who is over 90 to receive his first vaccine. Lisa said that she would phone her surgery to make enquiries during the session.

Katie Paine was then ready and waiting to start her music entertainment and greeted everyone with best wishes for the new year before starting. There were unfortunately some technical issues today as she had problems with her speaker. She continued however singing without background music and members were still happy as Katie has a beautiful voice. It didn’t stop everyone from singing along. It was good to see 2 care homes – Carlton Court and Aarundale joining today too.

Eon was then ready to start the exercises and greeted everyone in the same way with best wishes. Eon got everyone working hard and everyone enjoyed the exercises especially as everyone commented previously they really needed the exercise after the Christmas holidays. Eon had some Greek soft music for the cool down stretch which was a lovely surprise too.

Lisa then continued with the session informing everyone that whilst they were having their exercises, she rang the doctor’s surgery. Whilst there was an answerphone message whilst Lisa was waiting to get through informing people – not to call and enquire about vaccines, when Lisa got through to speak to the receptionist, Lisa mentioned that her father who is over 90 has still not had his vaccine and the receptionist replied apologising that surgeries are doing their best to get through everyone on the surgery list but it is taking time. She did confirm to Lisa however that she will now add her father to the list and he will now be called soon to get his vaccine.

Lisa repeated the above conversation she had to everyone and advised them that they should all contact their surgery if they have not yet been contacted.

Lisa then read a short story joke to everyone which made them laugh and then did a quiz with everyone about some of the 2020 events. This was a shout your answer quiz questions which everyone enjoyed. We all now want to forget 2020.

Lisa then called out the Bingo numbers and today’s winner was Hettie and David.

This was the last session for 2020 and we had 26 members.

Lisa started with the 2pm Karaoke session and then everyone looks forward to some chat time before the next part of the session starts again. It was a real pleasure today to have Helen Tierney for music entertainment. Members remembered Helen from many times before the Covid. Helen entertained everyone with some popular songs and a few Christmas songs. She played the piano, the accordion and the Harp. Helen played beautifully and members thoroughly enjoyed singing along especially with the last song with Hogmanay. Helen also told us that it was her birthday tomorrow and therefore Lisa made sure that members all sang happy birthday to her.

Eon Walters then continued with the session and today he had some festive music which members really enjoyed working out to.

Lisa then read out a couple of Christmassy jokes which everyone enjoyed and then had a Christmassy multi choice quiz and the winner for the quiz today was Irene. Lisa then called out the Bingo numbers and as the game is played twice for December, the winners were John and Audrey.

Lisa then wished everyone Happy Christmas and seasonal holidays and reminded them that the sessions will start again on Monday 4th January 2021. Lisa was touched by everyone’s best wishes to her and thanked her for everything too.

We had 21 members today. Lisa started with a Karaoke as usual at 2pm and then followed with the chat session at 2.30pm. Everyone was in a jolly mood and one of the members was wearing an upside down Santa hat which got everyone laughing. There was a chat also about vaccines and a few of the members mentioned that they have already been vaccinated with the Covid-19 vaccine.

James Le Bec and Joy then joined the session ready to start the music entertainment and looked very festive in their Santa outfits and Christmas decorations in the background. James played a couple of Christmas songs and then continued with the music quiz which everyone really loves. Lisa then got all the members to sing Happy Christmas to James and Joy.

Richard Kravetz was then ready to do Chair Yoga exercises with everyone and as usual its always great fun especially with the new chair dance routine to music at the end. Richard then had a Christmas quiz today and 5 general questions quiz and the winners were Pamela and John. Lisa got members to sing Happy Hanukkah to Richard.

Lisa then called out the Bingo numbers and the winner twice was Stephen and Brenda. As they have now won 3 games they are now the Game Six winners. A new Bingo game will start on Monday.

We had 16 members this evening. Lisa welcomed everyone and informed them that the forum may not be going ahead on the 17th December this week as Mike has not been able to confirm with the council.

Lisa then opened the meeting and asked Keren who had already informed Lisa in advance that she had an idea to discuss at the group meeting. As members however all new that Lisa had her mum’s funeral today, they were all very sympathetic and wanted to ask Lisa about her day. Lisa was very overwhelmed and thanked everyone.

Keren then proceeded with her idea which was about bringing stories together in a ring binder and sell the books to raise money for charity. Stories would be suitable for those living with dementia, they would not be too tong, just a few pages. Everyone thought this was a good idea and Lisa suggested if Keren can briefly send some details about her idea she could include it in the next email to all members.

Andrew also suggested that the care home he works also have people that attend to do sensory games and this may be a good idea when the dementia clubs get back to normal.

Kevin also suggested that pictures are a good idea for example identifying landmarks.

Maurice also suggested the Writers club for Keren to look into.

Our next discussion was about vaccines and the order of priority and how everyone felt generally having the vaccine. Everyone felt that it would not be ethical to force people to be vaccinated. One of the carers has had their jab and said it all went well and was well organised.

Lisa then thanked everyone and reminded them that this was the last group session this year. Everyone also thanked Lisa.

We had 21 members today. It was also lovely to see 2 new members. Lisa started with the 2pm karaoke which then followed with the chat time. Everyone was pleased to see Ian James today who came back to do one more last session. Ian played lots of classical Christmas songs to bring some festive cheer. Lisa thanked Ian and everyone applauded Ian wishing him all the best for the future.

Eon Walters then continued with exercises and got everyone motivated to work out with his great choice of music.

Lisa then reminded everyone that she will not be having a Tuesday Karaoke session as she has her mum’s funeral. Everyone expressed their best wishes to Lisa for tomorrow. Lisa however informed them that the carers group session will be still be held in the evening and also reminded everyone that the last session was on Monday 21st December.

Lisa then called out the Bingo numbers and the winners today were Laurie Porter, Pamela and John, Ruth and Helen and Chrystalla.

We had 20 members today. Lisa started the karaoke as usual at 2pm and then at 2.30pm everyone looks forward to their chat time. We had a special birthday celebration today as one of the members Connie was celebrating her 92 years birthday. Lisa played the Happy Birthday song and everyone sang. She also had a birthday cake and blew her candle. When James Le Bec joined with his partner Joy, Connie had a further Happy Birthday and James also played her favourite song by Doris Day.

James then continued to sing a few favourites and also a Christmas classic and then he started the music quiz. This has become a real favourite. The winners for the music quiz were Colin and Janine. Richard Kravetz then joined us and was ready to start chair Yoga exercises.

Richard has been adding towards the end exercises to the music ‘Staying Alive’ by the Bee Gees showing everyone a sequence of movements to remember which is enjoyable and challenging for some.

Lisa then called out the Bingo numbers and as we are doing double Bingo call out games the winners today were Sandra and Laurie and Pam and John.

Lisa wished everyone well and Happy Chanukah for those celebrating.