Category: Blog

A small number of members today but a very enjoyable session.

Lisa welcomed everyone and brought a very big chocolate cake to share as it was Mark’s birthday the day before. Everyone really enjoyed the cake whilst chatting amongst each other.

There was no Annalisa today as she was on holiday so Lisa did a few exercises with members. James our musical entertainer then arrived and as usual got everyone up and dancing and everyone also sang Happy Birthday to Mark . James’s music quiz and getting each person to throw the dice is also a great favourite for members especially as they like the challenge to beat previous scores.

It was a lovely afternoon.

Pictures to follow…

 We took 34 members on a trip to Southend today. We had a lovely email from one of our members as follows:

“What a perfect day to go to the seaside with the sun shining with Lisa and Dementia Club UK members. First stop was a hearty fish and chips meal and for some a vegetarian option which went down very well. Then it was off on a train ride on the worlds longest pier at 1.34 miles. As Sir John Betjeman said the pier is Southend and Southend is the pier. At least we can say we have been to sea. All in all a wonderful day and I can say we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves with thanks to Lisa and Mark for making it a memorable day.”{gallery}SOUTHEND{/gallery}

Our monthly Dementia Club UK session was held on the 1st July at Sha’arei Tsedek Synagogue in Whetstone and taken by Justine Khedoory

Our members were served tea, coffee, lovely biscuits and cake at the start of our session and were happy chatting to each other.

The very talented Jane then took an exercise session with our members which they all engaged in and enjoyed. It was Dottie, one of our fabulous volunteers birthdays at the weekend and she very kindly brought in yummy chocolates for all our members and volunteers. We all sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to her!{gallery}SS20190701{/gallery}

The lovely Norma was also celebrating her birthday and she brought in a delicious chocolate birthday cake for everyone to eat! We put a huge sparkler in it & sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to her!

This was followed by a great session of entertainment provided by the very talented James LeBec. James sang a variety of popular songs to which many of the members and helpers danced. He also did a music quiz and our members had to guess the name of the song! It was great fun & very competitive! The atmosphere was fantastic!

After James left, the members continued to chat and there was also table tennis, golf and darts for those that wanted to play! 22 members and carers attended the session with the assistance of five helpers from the synagogue who were:- Justine, Gilda, Stephen, Dot & Judy. Kind regards.

Lisa was invited as a special guest today to attend the care home’s fun open day.

It was lovely to see so many residents and their families at the Open Day. The sunny hot weather made it even more special. Lisa attended with Mark her husband and they were looked after by Fran the Manager and Kaye one of the management staff and offered some refreshments.{gallery}CEDAR20190628{/gallery}

Everyone was having lovely time with music entertainment. The entertainer was dressed in a Pearly King outfit and played and sang some old songs.

Fran then introduced Lisa to say a few words. Lisa was informed that all the residents took part in painting a very big painting of The White Cliffs of Dover. In fact some residents still had paint on their hands. Lisa was also shown another painting that residents made previously from the film The Sound of Music.

Lisa congratulated the residents for their beautiful works of art. Lisa was then presented with a beautiful pot of flowers which was a lovely surprise.

Before leaving Lisa went to talk to some of the residents and families and just before leaving, care staff surprised Fran with a birthday cake. Fran celebrated her 70th birthday last year and had no idea Care staff were going to surprise her again this year. Fran was very overwhelmed by the surprise birthday.

Lisa would like to thank Fran the care home manager and Kaye for the invitation today. It was so lovely to see all the residents having so much fun and also wonderful to hear from the families what an outstanding care home it is and how lucky they are to have such an amazing care home manager and great care staff.

Summer is finally upon us and members of Dementia Club UK at today’s session in Hendon Town Hall felt the heat. Refreshments were ready to be served as members arrived needing to cool off.{gallery}HTH20190627{/gallery}

Members and their carers preferred to have long and interesting conversations amongst each other rather than any other activities. This is one of the beauty and flexibility of the sessions at Dementia Club UK and session leaders being able to adapt to members wishes.

The session would not be complete without Eon our exercise guru putting us through our paces with soft exercises. However he decided today to increase the pace a little and got us all working a lot harder. We were out of breath at the end of the session but it was thoroughly enjoyable.

Our resident musician for Dementia Club UK – Dennis was also in attendance. Dennis performed different genre of music to delight members, carers and volunteers who danced and sang along with pleasure.

Special thanks goes out to volunteers from Rotary Club of Hendon Charlyn and Eugenia who are also session leaders, Stella a friend of the Club, Lisa and Mark Rutter and other family carers present.

The session was led by Dr Angela Parker today as Lisa was away at a meeting in town.

Members enjoyed looking at a selection of books brought in by Dr Parker covering children’s stories and nursery rhymes. When members finished their teas and coffees, Dr Parker gave a short talk about looking after each other in the hot weather – making sure that you keep hydrated properly as well as using shade and suntan cream.{gallery}FMH20190626{/gallery}

The time went quickly when Moshe arrived to give a great musical recital of various favourites which included new and old time music. There was some Karaoke and many joined in singing and there were a lot of energetic dancers.

Members were reminded that next Wednesday is the outing to Southend with the coach leaving at 10 am from the Finchley Memorial car park.

Thank you to the volunteers today Melissa, Melvin and Arzu for their help during the session. Great team work running the sessions smoothly in the absence of our Lisa.

As members arrived Lisa welcomed them. They also received a warm welcome from Rotarians Jim, Malcolm and Victor who are always happy to sit and chat with the members.

As always Andrew the Church warden makes sure that all the tables are set up and Dorothy and Brenda always ensure members are served with their teas and coffees and cakes straight away.{gallery}SJNB20190625{/gallery}

Lisa then gave out some quiz questions to the members. The quiz was organised by Simon our quiz master who was absent today but made sure that the quiz was delivered. Today’s quiz was about naming some famous brands. Most of the brands were easy but there were a few tricky ones which made it challenging. The quiz also brought back some memories and Lisa got members to talk about them.

It was then time for some exercise and as Richard was away, we had a new Yoga teacher – Kathryn Jackman. Members really enjoyed the exercises with Kathryn who not only made them work hard but also made it fun.

Members were now ready for their music entertainment with James and as usual James knows the right type of music to get members interested. The music quiz game is also a great enjoyment as members like the challenge to get as many points as possible.

Everyone then enjoys a good dance before going home. Thank you to all our volunteers and of course Mark one of our Trustees who also helped during the session.

A very warm humid day but quite a few members arrived including a couple of new members. Lisa welcomed members and introduced some quizzes for them to do whilst they enjoyed their teas and coffees and lovely cakes and chatting.{gallery}GBC20190624{/gallery}

Joanna then arrived to do some Chi Kung chair exercises which the members found very relaxing. Members were then excited to see Peter Webb the Elvis entertainer arrive. He soon got everyone up and dancing. Elvis makes everyone happy especially as he gets close to serenade. It was a very enjoyable session.