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We had 27 members for the evening meeting. Lisa welcomed everyone and introduced her special guests;

• Mr Eshwan Seedoyal – Barnet Memory Service Team Leader & ECT Coordinator (Trustwide)
• Mr Alan McVitty – Admiral Nurse
• Ms Caroline Goodfellow – Barnet Memory Service Shared Team Leader
• Ms Margaret Felle Coyle – Admiral Nurse

Eshwan started to talk saying that there are 2 Admiral Nurses in Barnet and they have large caseloads. Admiral Nurses focus on the carer and the family to support the carer in their caring role. Their first priority is the carer and then the person with dementia. They work on a one to one basis whereas the Barnet Memory Service works on group chat sessions. However the group chats have not been very successful as they are not always convenient for the carers to attend either for travel reasons or times. Admiral Nurses also liaise with other agencies e.g. GPs, voluntary organisations, Age UK, Jewish care. They work jointly with these agencies.

Eshwan then asked Alan to say a few words about his work and then Margaret and Caroline also followed.

Members had a lot of questions and some of the members who already knew Margaret had some very wonderful feedback saying how much she has been able to help their family and there were a few tears of gratitude.

We also had Dr Angela at the meeting who is one of our Trustees who also had a question about social prescribing and also it was a pleasure to also have this evening Andrew Wrensch from Carlton Court Care Home – Community Development Manager who was also happy to suggest to Eshwan that if a venue was required to host the group meetings then Carlton Court would be happy to help when things were back to normal.

Eshwan also mentioned to everyone at the end that there was an Admiral Helpline which is Nationwide for anyone who needed to call and get some advice. The number is 0800 888 6678 and this is open Monday to Friday 9.00am to 9.00pm and Saturday and Sunday from 9.00am to 5.00pm

Lisa thanked her special guests who remained for the rest of the meeting. Lisa then gave a brief summary about what has been happening with regards to the visiting in care homes campaign and then informed everyone about who was attending next week’s meeting. Lisa informed everyone that Nilesh one of the carers had written a letter to Theresa Villiers MP and Lisa also mentioned that she also invited Theresa if she could attend next week’s carers meeting. Nilesh also invited 2 care homes who confirmed they were attending. Discussions then continued about visiting in care homes and also other discussions about respite vouchers. Carers were concerned that they would be expiring and will not get a chance to use them. They were also wondering if they were just to use for care homes. Eshwan confirmed that the respite vouchers were for using for care homes only.

Lisa thanked everyone again and the meeting ended.

We had 27 members today. Lisa welcomed everyone and informed them that her mum was sadly in hospital with Covid. Lisa also reminded everyone that she had special visitors attending later in the carers meeting – Admiral nurses and members from the Barnet Memory Service. Also as it was now December, Lisa informed everyone that the last session date will be Monday 21st December and returning back on Monday 4th January 2021. One of the members Laurie in the chat session today had some interesting news to share with everyone. He had an old Fulham football programme dating back to 1951 when he took his wife to see a football game. This had some very treasured memories for Laurie as this was his wife’s first football game she attended and Laurie was pleased that Liverpool beat Fulham.

Lisa then started the Lisa & Mark Karaoke Show which everyone enjoys especially as they also hear their special requests. The session then continued with dance exercises with Sian. Everyone loves Sian’s exciting exercise moves and today there was also some salsa and as usual at the end everyone cools down to ‘When you’re Smiling’ and everyone also looks forward to seeing her little boy Owen who really enjoys taking part.

Lisa then finished the session with calling out the Bingo numbers and the winner today was Joan and as Joan had a 3rd win, Lisa will be delivering a gift to Joan at her house, (with PPE).

We had 22 members today. The session started promptly at 2pm with the Lisa & Mark Karaoke Show and then members always then enjoy their chat time before the session starts again at 3pm. Lisa welcomed everyone and reminded them that an Admiral Nurse will be attending the carers session tomorrow evening.

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Members were ready and excited to welcome our new singer Katie Paine who surprised us with a variety of music that got everyone singing and in one of the songs tap dancing. Katie half way also introduced her partner (Ricky)- Richard Groves an actor best known for playing Garry Hobbs in EastEnders from 2000-2009. Before his role in EastEnders he appeared in the series Burnside, a spin off from The Bill. Members were delighted to meet Ricky. As the first of December was tomorrow, Katie then decided to play a couple of Christmas classics joined with Ricky in the chorus which everyone enjoyed singing along.

The session then followed with Eon and as usual got everyone doing an enjoyable but great workout. Lisa then continued with doing 10 quiz questions about food and drink and the winners with the highest score were Keren and Pam. Lisa then informed members that she was going to have 2 Bingo sessions today as one was missed last week. The winners were Joan and Maurice.

We had 23 members today. Lisa started the Lisa & mark Karaoke Show at 2pm which everyone enjoyed. Members then had their 30 minutes chat time and Lisa welcomed everyone and again announced in case some members had not heard about the money that was raised from Karin’s Quince tree.

Lisa then welcomed James Le Bec and Joy to start the music entertainment. James announced that it was Joy’s birthday today and therefore everyone wished Joy a very Happy Birthday. James sang Pretty Woman as a song for Joy and for all the ladies which was really nice. After a few songs, James started the music quiz which is really a great success. Providing 3 possible answers to each music quiz makes it more exciting and the spin of the digital dice is always great fun especially when the dice spin again if a low number comes up. The winners of the music quiz were Ann and Connie who got 9 out of 10 and this was followed by Pam and John who got 8 out of 10. The additional name 10 famous names from a letter of the alphabet which James provides is another bonus and everyone loves to shout out the names.

Richard Kravetz then continued the session with the chair Yoga exercises and to add a bit of a difference today, Richard ended by playing ‘Staying Alive’ and members following Richard’s moves. Everyone’s feedback was that they really enjoyed it. A couple of suggestions were made which Richard took on board to add for next week’s routine.

Richard then continued with the general knowledge quiz and today he had 10 questions and members had to answer – Who/What/How to each question. Everyone always enjoy Richard’s quizzes.

Unfortunately Lisa had a call from her mum’s care home and was unable to call out the Bingo numbers today.

We had 23 members join including Mike Rich from Barnet Carers. Lisa welcomed her special visitor Dr Paresh Malhotra a consultant neurologist and senior clinical lecturer at Imperial College London. He studied medicine at the university of Oxford. He gave us a very interesting talk about his clinical trials and his research which initiated quite a few questions from members about the various dementia drugs in particular Donepezil and Rivastigmine which are the most common used drugs for dementia.

Dr Malhotra then talked about the various Covid vaccines – Astrazeneca which is the one developed in the UK and recommended by the Government as it is easier to store in comparison to the 2 other vaccines Pfizer and Moderna. Members again had a number of questions especially about any side effects and also questions with the flu vaccine.

Lisa thanked Dr Maholtra who had stayed longer than anticipated.

Lisa then started to discuss about the forthcoming Forum on Thursday and introduced Mike to speak about the agenda for the evening and how the discussions will be steered. Lisa then reiterated the importance of this forum and to hopefully have a productive discussion. There are many families who have not seen their loved ones since March and are “dying of heartbreak”.

Mike said that he would send me the zoom joining link for the session so that I could pass it on to members.

We had 23 members today. Lisa welcomed everyone and gave members some updates and announced how one of the carers Karin raised £283.24 from selling Quince from her tree. Lisa then reminded everyone that Dr Paresh Malhotra will be visiting later in the carers session. Lisa also mentioned about Smile.Amazon.co.uk and asked if members could all start shopping with Smile Amazon as they could choose Dementia Club UK as the charity to receive a small donation at no extra cost.

Lisa then started the Lisa & Mark Karaoke Show. Members always look forward to this.

This followed with exercises with Sian which members really enjoy as her music and style makes exercising fun. It was lovely at the end when Sian sings ‘When you’re Smiling’ as she also brings her 10 year old son Owen who today was dressed in a reindeer outfit which was very cute.

Lisa then continued and read a few jokes and then called out the Bingo numbers. Today’s winner was Jo, Grazia and Enzo.

We had a very busy session today with 29 members. Lisa & Mark started the 2pm Karaoke session which everyone enjoyed and then everyone was happy to chat for 30 minutes before the next part of the programme.

Lisa welcomed everyone and also the new members. Our music entertainer Ian was away today as he had a work interview and will be moving on unfortunately with other work so he introduced Lisa to a new singer.

Lisa introduced Katie Paine a new singer who was absolutely amazing and she was a great hit with all the members. She played some music which got members dancing in their seats. The session then continued with chair exercises with Eon and as usual Eon had some lovely music which got everyone happily working out.

Lisa then continued with the session with a general knowledge quiz and then Lisa read out some jokes which everyone loves and lastly called out the Bingo numbers. The Bingo winners today were Stephen and Brenda.

We had 24 members today. Lisa welcomed everyone and started the Lisa & Mark Karaoke Show. At 2.30pm it was then the meet and chat time which everyone always enjoys. James Le Bec then joined us to start the music entertainment and also sang a tribute song for Des O’Connor who recently passed away. James then started the music quiz and today James decided to play a few seconds of the song and gave 3 possible answers which made it more interesting and everyone really preferred it. Of course the digital dice are still also thrown which makes it also exciting scoring points.

The session the continued with Yoga with Richard Kravetz and today there was a lovely surprise towards the end when Richard played ‘Staying Alive’ from the film Saturday Night Fever. Everyone really enjoyed the moves. Richard then continued with a general knowledge quiz with 10 questions and the quiz winners today were Keren and Pam and Janice.

Lisa then continued with reading a joke which everyone enjoyed and then called out the Bingo numbers. The winner today was Sandra and Laurie.

We had 18 members this evening. Lisa welcomed everyone including Mike Rich from Barnet Carers Centre. Lisa first started to talk about the Forum which is being organised to discuss ‘Visiting in care Homes’ and summarised the reason for the forum. Lisa then asked Mike to brief everyone about the forum. Mike informed everyone that he has been having meetings with the council and is still trying to confirm who will be attending at the forum. There are 4 care home providers who have agreed to attend so far also.

Mike said that he would confirm with Lisa.

Lisa then continued the session and first raised how Cllr Sachin provided responses to some of the concerns raised in previous weeks and members confirmed they were happy. One of the concerns was about Barnet carers cards and as Mike was at the meeting he was able to respond and inform everyone that he was happy to provide Carers emergency cards to anyone living in Barnet. A form would need to be completed however for members to register as carers. Mike said that he would email Lisa the form. Some of the other discussions this evening was about;

• The difficulties in other neighbouring Boroughs applying for Blue badges for someone living with dementia.
• How to get access to priority supermarket deliveries
• Why Non Paid Carers are not ranked the same as Carers in Care Homes to receive the Covid-19 Vaccine. One of the members also mentioned that he will be attending the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency ‘MHRA’ patient group meeting tomorrow and he will be raising the question about vaccinating carers.

Lisa also informed everyone that she has organised 2 visitors to attend the carers meetings. On the 24th November Dr Paresh Malhotra who is a consultant neurologist will talk about dementia and his ongoing research and latest drug trials. On the 1st December an Admiral Nurse will be attending – Mr Alan McVitty and he will be attending with 2 other colleagues from the Barnet Memory Service.

This was as usual a good meeting and everyone thought the meeting was very informative.

We had 24 members today and everyone was looking forward to the Karaoke session. Lisa welcomed everyone and then started the Show. There were a couple of special requests which Lisa always takes from members and tries to include in the Show and this makes members very happy. The session then continued with Sian with chair exercises to popular music which gets everyone moving as members sing along. It was lovely at the end when Sian always plays ‘When you’re Smiling’ as she also brought her son Owen who is 10 years old to also participate. Members thought Owen was so sweet and liked that.

Lisa then read a couple of jokes which everyone enjoyed listening to and then called out the Bingo numbers. Today’s winner was Jo Alaimo, Grazia and Enzo.