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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.

We had 30 people at the carers group session this evening. Lisa welcomed some special visitors. Adam Purnell from Kepplegate Care Services in Lancashire and Donna Pierpoint from Broomgrove Nursing Home in Sheffield. Lisa also welcomed Theresa Villiers MP for Chipping Barnet and also Mike Rich CEO from Barnet Carers Centre.

Lisa first gave a brief summary about how her campaign started for ‘Visiting in Care Homes’ outlining the issues that have caused many families to die of heartbreak. Lisa then asked Adam and then Donna to start talking about how their care homes have been coping with the pandemic and what best practices they have been following.

Adam mentioned that he was very supportive of the John’s campaign which has been in the newspapers and has tried to set good guidelines that would continue to allow visiting without restricting those residents who had greater needs and were unable to understand social distancing and video calls. It was so wonderful to hear the same form Donna having similar best practices and both saying how for them, running a home with your heart was so important. They both also said how they challenged the local Council guidelines and were prepared to take their own risks. One of the ways they would introduce family relatives to the home would be to consider them as volunteers and have them DBS checked so that they form part of the staff and therefore there would be no insurance issues. These family volunteers would then be able to visit and help to for example feed their loved ones.

All care homes have infection control money which they can use to buy Lateral Flow Tests for example but most of the care homes have unfortunately used the money to buy perspex screens which is such a shame. It was thought that perhaps one of the problems with care homes was that their Head Office would make the decisions and therefore care home managers would be unable to make decisions based on the best interests of their residents.

Lisa then asked Theresa Villiers MP if she liked to say a few words. Theresa was very grateful for the opportunity to join the carers group meeting. She said that she had already spoken at Parliament about ‘Visiting in care Homes’ after initially bringing this matter to her attention and was pleased to hear from the 2 care homes this evening their best practices which she can take to Parliament.

Mike Rich also spoke explaining how difficult it has been trying to get the authorities to acknowledge the issues. The next forum will hopefully go ahead on the 17th December.

Lisa then opened the floor for questions which was very interesting. There were discussions about the Lateral Flow Tests and concerns about their accuracy but they were still important to have and every care home should have them to provide 30 minute tests. There was talks about the vaccines and also talks about residents care plans and the importance of making sure that families were kept informed and the care plans were kept up to date.

This was an excellent meeting and Lisa thanked everybody for attending. At the end Doctor Angela announced a vote of thanks to Lisa for continuing to have the meeting this evening even after her mum had only passed away during the night. A minute silence was also proposed and Lisa was overwhelmed.

We had 20 members today. Lisa welcomed everyone and informed them of her sad news of her mum passing away last night. Everyone was very sad to hear this. At 3pm Lisa then started the Lisa & Mark Karaoke Show and played some of members requests which everyone really enjoyed. There were a few technical issues today generally and as Sian was unable to start, Lisa did a quick quiz of 10 questions about food and drink. Sian was then ready and as usual got everyone exercising to some great music and at the end her son Owen joins her to finish off with the song ‘When you’re smiling’.

Mark then called out the Bingo numbers today and the winners were Kevin and Mabel and Sandra and Laurie.

We had 20 members today. Lisa started the repeat Karaoke session at 2pm and then at 2.30pm it was the chat time. Lisa welcomed everyone and reminded everyone about the 2 special visits from 2 care homes in Sheffield and Lancashire joining the carers group session. Katie Paine our new music entertainer was then ready to perform and started with some classics – Buddy Holly ‘That will be the Day’ followed by the Beatles, Rock around the clock and other favourites and then finishing off with a Christmas song ‘Rocking around the Christmas tree’. Everyone really enjoyed the session. As this was Katie’s last session for this year, Lisa and members all joined to wish her and Ricky a very Happy Christmas and look forward to seeing her back on 4th January.

Eon Walters was then ready to do the exercises which is always great fun and a great workout.

Lisa then announced to everyone that for the month of December she was going to call out 2 Bingo games to give everyone a chance to win quicker. Today’s winners were Kevin and Mabel and Keren and Francis.

We had 21 members today. Lisa started with the Lisa & Mark Karaoke session at 2pm and at 2.30pm everyone looks forward to a chat and catch up with each other before the session starts again at 3pm. We had 2 new members today Ramanjit and her father Ron. Lisa welcomed them and introduced them to the other members. It was good to see Andrew Mills – church warden from St John’s United Reformed Church.

We had a bit of a swap today so we started with Richard Kravetz doing some chair Yoga. Everyone as always enjoy the exercises and at the end Richard spices it up with exercising to ‘Staying Alive’ with music. Richard then continues to do some general knowledge quiz and today it was 10 questions on food and drink which were very interesting questions. The winners were Gina and Irene who scored 9/10.

James Le Bec was then ready with Joy to start the music entertainment and James started with a classical Christmas song and then sang some other favourites. He then started the music quiz and this part has now become a real favourite for everyone. James had music from different television programmes. The winner today was Helen and Chrystalla who got 10/10. James then asked members to name 10 famous names starting with James. It was great fun.

Lisa then informed everyone that for this month only in December she will be doing 2 Bingo games for each session giving everyone a better chance of winning. The winners today were Stephen and Brenda and Gina and Irene.