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We had 19 members today. Lisa started the karaoke at 2pm and at 2.30pm Lisa welcomed everyone and they were happy for their chat time. James Le Bec and Joy then joined us and were ready to start their music entertainment. James had heard that Dementia Club UK recently won ‘Charity of the Year’ and therefore started with singing – Congratulations By Cliff Richard. Lisa and all the members were delighted. James then sang a medley of songs before starting the music quiz. James planned a much tougher music quiz today but members still did really well and they always enjoy the challenge. The winners were Helen and Gina with 10 out of 10 and Sandra with 9 and a half. James then adds a further quick quiz and today was to name 10 famous ladies beginning with ‘J’ the total score today was 112.

Richard Kravetz then joined to start the chair Yoga exercises which everyone really enjoys. Richard then continues to do a general knowledge quiz and today was a fun quiz to name 10 of the children’s Mr Men books from the author Adam Hargreaves. He continued his father’s series of children’s books. Richard gave some clues of course and this helped to name the books. Quite a few members got 10 out of 10 – Keren and Francis, Chris and Gina, Karin and Corrado and Helen.

Lisa then continued to call out the bingo numbers and the winners today were 2 winners – Kevin and Mabel and Gina and Chris.

We had 18 members this evening. Lisa welcomed everyone and gave apologies for Mike Rich who was not feeling very well. Lisa welcomed new members and gave a few updates. Lisa reported that she had still not heard anything after her speech at Barnet Council asking for Unpaid Carers to be recognised in the first two priority groups. Lisa further reported however that she has since heard that the CCG may be contacting to obtain unpaid carers details which is a good sign. One of the carers also mentioned at the meeting that this was already happening in another Borough.

Lisa then mentioned about the email and links she received from Stephen Whittle. Stephen and his wife Brenda are volunteer Partners with Alzheimer’s Research UK and Lisa informed everyone that Stephen has given permission for his short life story to be published on our website. There is also an interview with them both.

Lisa then welcomed Andrew Wrensch and asked him about the farm which was discussed last week. Andrew mentioned last week about his 2 horses on a farm and this would be a good idea for an outing one day for members. Lisa looked this up and reported in her previous write up that it was – Lewis of London at Fold Farm in Barnet. However, Andrew said that his farm with the 2 horses are opposite to this farm and the address is Barnet Livery Yard-106, Galley Lane, EN5 4AL

Lisa then mentioned about the training which will be starting next Tuesday 9th February and Lisa said that she would be emailing everyone with all the details of the training. Andrew said that he was looking forward to it.

Lisa then asked Kevin to speak as he had already indicated that he had a few concerns to report. Kevin felt let down by his MP Bob Blackman who was supposed to attend his carers meeting and failed to make any contact with Kevin. Kevin also mentioned his experience when he attended a vaccination centre for Mable and asked if it was possible for him to be vaccinated and unfortunately was confronted with a volunteer who obviously had no understanding about unpaid carers and was very dismissive to Kevin.

Kevin also reported how when he also still sees people not wearing face masks in supermarkets which makes him angry and used to confront those people but he now tries to avoid close contact.

There were several different discussions then raised. One question was how do we help those living with dementia to help them recognise that when its night time it is time to sleep. One of the members mentioned that in some care homes it has been tried where the cares at night put on their pyjamas and this might help the residents to know that it’s bedtime. Andrew who is a Community Development Manager at Carlton Court care Home said that he would certainly speak to the manager and try this out.

Dr Angela has provided the following link below;

https://www.carehome.co.uk/news/article.cfm/id/1616847/one-ten-care-workers-pyjamas-residents-dementia-know-bedtime

There was another discussion about the difficulties for some people especially the elderly with mobility issues to get to the vaccination centres. One of the members however mentioned that there is something called ‘Cabs for Jabs’ and this is already happening in some boroughs.

Lisa then mentioned about a You Tube video she watches daily from Dr John Campbell – an A&E accident and emergency nurse for 40 years, provides very thorough reports about Coronavirus and the Science behind everything. Lisa talked to everyone about today’s video which was about Mouthwash and how this could prevent infection and progression of Covid-19. Lindsey Dixon a Canadian pharmacist was talking to Dr Campbell about Mouthwash. It doesn’t need to be any particular mouth wash. It could even be plain water, as it is the action of rinsing the oral cavity which has the same benefits. In Vietnam they have 96 million people. Covid cases under 2000 and only had 35 deaths. They recommended their population to use mouthwash and the purchase of mouthwash went up 78% during the pandemic. Jan 23rd 2020 one patient treated – no antibiotics, sent to the roof top for sunshine and outdoor exercise. Windows were left open in hospitals and patients asked to gargle every day. Lindsey recommended that everyone should use it especially if you feel you have a scratchy throat. This could reduce viral load. Lisa then mentioned that taking Vitamin D especially now when we have no sunshine is very important to help boost our immune system.

Dr Angela also agreed that this was important but also mentioned that you can overdose with it if you have too much. The recommended dose is 25mg, 1000 units.

Lisa showed everyone that they can buy a spray which is simple. Dr Angela provided the following link below about the possible beneficial role of throat gargling;

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7266767/

Everyone thought it was a very interesting and very informative meeting. Lisa thanked everyone and closed the meeting at 8.40pm.

We had 21 members today. Lisa welcomed everyone at 2.30pm and gave a few updates. Today was Sotiris’s birthday and everyone wished Sotiris a very happy birthday. Lisa also reminded everyone that as from next Tuesday 9th February the Karaoke session on Tuesday will also start at 2pm like all the other days. This was because Ian James our music entertainer will be coming back again and he will be performing at 3pm. Everyone were very pleased to hear that Ian was coming back.

At 3pm Lisa & Mark started the Karaoke session and everyone was happy to sing along especially to their requests which Lisa always tries to find.

Rachel was then ready to start at 3.30pm the chair exercises to music and then introduces new dance movements.

Lisa then got everyone to do a fun ‘Family Fortunes quiz’ and pretended with Kevin that they both went together to Lancashire to do a survey there. There were 10 questions which was great fun and made everyone laugh. Lisa then called out the Bingo numbers and as there was a bit of a mix up today – there was no winner.

We had 25 members today which also included 2 new members Fiona and Grace from Bury, Lancashire. It was also a pleasure to meet their dog ‘Teddy’ a beautiful cocker poodle. Lisa started as usual with the 2pm Karaoke session and then at 2.30pm it was time for meet and chat. Lisa introduced our new members and everyone made them feel very welcome. It was a lovely surprise to Lisa to see a “Well Done” banner held up. This was relating to our charity’s recently winning Charity of the Year in Barnet. Lisa gave a couple of updates and mentioned that Mike Rich from Barnet Carers will be attending the carers group session on Tuesday and also mentioned that Ian James one of our previous music entertainers who left is now coming back and will be starting next Tuesday. Members were very pleased to hear this.

It was now time for Katie Paine to start the music entertainment and Lisa informed Katie that there were 2 birthdays. Our new members Grace had a birthday on the 29th January and is 82 years of age and it will be Sotiris’s birthday tomorrow. Katie made sure that Happy Birthday best wishes were sung to both of them and everyone joined in to sing too. Katie also had her niece Ava today and it was lovely to meet Ava. We now have 2 little girls of similar age called Ava at the session. Everyone was very pleased to meet Katie’s niece Ava. Katie’s music theme today was to ‘Guess the Year’ of all the songs she was going to sing. Katie asked all the members at the end individually what year in the 1950’s they thought it was. The correct answer was 1956. Members enjoyed that bit of guessing at the end which was fun.

Eon was then ready to start his chair exercise to music which is always a great success as everyone really looks forward to it. Lisa then finished the session with calling out the Bingo numbers and today’s winner was Karin.

We are really pleased that Dementia Club UK has won community Charity of the year

The Barnet Group Community Awards 2020

We want to thank Dementia Club UK members who nominated the charity to the Barnet Group and especially Helen and Kevin who spoke such kind words in the video above, (at about 15 minutes in).

We had 27 members today. Lisa started the Karaoke session at 2pm and at 2.30pm welcomed everyone. It was a pleasure to welcome 2 new members today, Kathy and Douglas and also welcome Helen from Rotary Club Northwick Park. Lisa reminded everyone to try and watch The Barnet Group 2020 Awards which can be seen on YouTube. Details are also found on The Barnet Group website.

James Le Bec our music entertainer was then ready to start with his partner Joy. James as usual got everyone singing straight away starting with ‘Show me the Way to go Home’ He then had another very interesting music quiz which everyone always enjoys. The winners today for the music quiz were Pam, Helen, Janine and Colin with 10 out of 10. The music quiz follows with naming 10 names and this week was naming 10 famous gentlemen names starting with H. The total of points scored this week were 116. James then finished off with getting everyone un-muted to sing ‘When the Saints go marching On’ and finally muting everyone again for his final song.

Richard Kravetz was then ready to start his chair Yoga class session which everyone loves. Richard had 2 of his students today, Tara and Beril who wanted to watch. Richard then does his general knowledge quiz which today was naming historical events over the years. This was quite challenging but members loves a bit of a challenge. The members who scored the highest points for the quiz were Andrew from the Church, followed by Stephen, Gina and Ruth. There was a bit of a sing-a-long to to one of Richard’s quiz questions to the ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ and some members suggested to Lisa that we should add this to the next Karaoke session.

Lisa thanked Richard and then finished off the session by calling out the Bingo numbers. The Bingo winner today was Karen and Lillian.

We had 24 carers to this evening’s meeting, Lisa welcomed everyone and gave a brief update about vaccinations and also informing them further about her recent question at Council meeting regarding unpaid carers who should be listed in the first 2 priority groups for vaccination. Lisa had no response yet for this to report.

Lisa then asked Andrew Wrensch – Community Development Manager at Carlton Court Care Home to talk to everyone regarding – training as Lisa and Andrew had spoken before the meeting about providing various training to members at the group. Andrew agreed that he would be happy to do this. Andrew gave a list of the various subjects that he could provide as training which also included some certified training like – Life Support and First Aid. Members were delighted to hear this news and asked if the list could be provided. Lisa said that she would be happy to share the list of training with everyone when she receives this from Andrew. The first subject decided unanimously for training was ‘Understanding distress behaviour’ and this would then lead to the following week’s training about ‘Managing/Avoiding distress behaviour’.

The various subjects raised by Andrew prompted various other conversations raised by members and as we also had our Trustee and GP Dr Angela Parker at the meeting, members were also able to ask Dr Angela for some medical advice.

Andrew also mentioned that the NHS are now sending Lateral Flow Home Testing Kits to care homes so that all the carers are tested before they start work. As the test only takes 20 minutes to give a result, this is very helpful especially as it is 65% – 72% accurate.

Other discussions were about when lockdown measures will be lifted and places to go for walks and relax. Andrew mentioned that he had 2 horses at Lewis of London at Fold Farm in Barnet. Members were very interested and asked that they could be sent more details. Andrew said that he would email Lisa with details to pass on. There is also the best ice cream shop there made locally.

http://www.highlivingbarnet.com/fold-farm-ice-cream-farm/

Everyone thanked Andrew and Lisa for a very interesting and informative meeting.

We had 31 members today which included 4 new members. Lisa welcomed everyone and also informed them about The Barnet Group awards ceremony which is on Thursday 28th January. As Dementia Club UK has been nominated for Charity of the Year award, the results of the winner will be announced on Thursday. Lisa said that whatever happens she wanted to thank those who nominated the charity. Lisa also mentioned that as she would have to leave early today to go to a work meeting, she will call the Bingo straight after the Karaoke and then Rachel will then take over with the exercise session.

The Karaoke session was great as usual and it was lovely to see members singing and dancing. Lisa and Mark always try to find any song requests which are emailed in advance which then makes it very special for members. Lisa then called out the Bingo numbers and today’s winner was Margaret Shine.

Mark then welcomed Rachel who took the exercise part of the session which everyone enjoyed. Mark then thanked Rachel and the session ended.

Today we had 26 members. Lisa started the karaoke repeat Karaoke session at 2pm and at 2.30pm everyone looked forward for a catch up especially after a weekend. It was lovely to see Sheila a Rotary of Golders Green volunteer.

Katie Paine then joined us. She always likes to have a bit of chat with members before she starts. She was prepared today with a Scottish Burns Night theme of songs which was really great. She not only spoke with a Scottish accent but she also dressed the part. Everyone really loved it and sang along.

Eon Walters then joined us for the chair exercise session. Eon is just great and everyone really enjoy the workout.

Lisa then showed members 2 short funny videos and then followed this with a picture quiz which was about curry. Lisa got members to shout out the answers. It was then time for Bingo and the winners today were Fulvia and Colin. It was great to have 2 winners.

We had 23 members today. Lisa started the Karaoke session at 2pm which is a repeat of Tuesdays. A few of the members including Ava and Lisa had fun showing their pet toys to the camera. The chat session then started at 2.30pm and as usual this is always a good chat. James Le Bec and Joy then joined the session ready to entertain. James decided today to do a medley of songs to start with and then the music quiz which was 10 music quiz questions, naming 10 songs played by clarinet. Sandra and Gina got 9 out of 10 for this part of the quiz. James then finishes off with another quick name famous names with the letter ‘C’ and today it was to name men and women. The Dice was very kind today as Mark rolled the dice for each question and the total score was a record high of 126. James finished off with singing a favourite song for everyone to singalong to.

Richard Kravetz was then ready to start the Yoga exercises and as usual everyone enjoys. Richard then continues with a general knowledge quiz and today it was an entertainment quiz. It was a challenging quiz but Richard got everyone chatting and remembering some of the old entertaining programmes like Faulty Towers. The member with the highest score was Gina and Chris who got 6 out of 10 and Richard’s make believe prize was a bottle of Johnny Walker and a set of Faulty Towers box set.

Lisa then called out the Bingo numbers and the winner was Helen together with Chrystalla and Ava.