Blog

We had 26 members today. We decided after popular demand from members to do a Karaoke Show on Monday and Wednesday too. This means that we start at 2pm promptly with the Lisa & Mark Karaoke Show until 2.30pm. Then we have a break for 30 minutes for the chat session as usual and then the normal programme starts at 3pm again. We were not sure how many would attend at 2pm but there were a good number and everyone enjoyed it. Lisa will formerly make the changes by email to everyone.

Lisa welcomed everyone and also congratulated Aarandale Manor Care Home who were in the local Times newspaper recently for getting a ‘GOOD’ CQC rating. Lisa also announced sadly the loss of another of our members Michael Epstein.

The session then started with Ian James who is always great fun and interacts with everyone. Eon Walters then continued with the exercises to music and gets everyone working out in their own pace. No one falls asleep in Eon’s sessions!

Eon then finished with some Greek exotic cool down music which members also enjoyed. Lisa then took over with a short True or False quiz. The quiz winners with the highest score was Stephen and Brenda. Lisa then continued by reading a couple of jokes and then called out the Bingo numbers. The Bingo winners today was Helen and Chrystalla.

We had 24 members today. It was also lovely to see our volunteers Annette and Melvyn. Lisa welcomed everyone and then James was ready to start the session. After a few songs however James had some technical issues today for 10 minutes and therefore Lisa rescued the situation by playing a couple of songs from the Lisa & Mark Karaoke Show. James then took over again and all was well.

Richard then continued with the Yoga exercises which everyone enjoys and then he also does a quiz. Today’s quiz was to name the artist and the title of the song from the lyrics. Richard had to hum a couple of the lyrics to give a bit of a clue. It was great fun and our winners today were Gina and Chris and Pam and John.

Lisa then called out the Bingo numbers and today’s winners were Keren and Frances.

We had 20 members this evening and we also had one of our Trustees Valerie and we also had a visitor from Carlton Court Care Home – Andrew Wrench –Community Development Manager.

Lisa first started by welcoming everyone and said that whilst we were going to try out some ‘breakout’ sessions, she informed everyone about her previous meeting and how the Zoom ‘breakout’ sessions just didn’t work and people were getting lost. Lisa mentioned that this was something that needed to be looked at further and tried at a later date especially as she had some updates to deliver.

Lisa first mentioned that after her Council Health Board meetings today regarding the up to date infection rate in Barnet, she was pleased to report that the infection has gone down but we still need to be very careful. Lisa also mentioned about a new COVID strain from Denmark derived from mink that have re-infected humans. This also applies the same in Italy and therefore the UK Borders are now closed so that there is no risk of this new strain entering the UK.

The new vaccine that has been recently developed from Pfizer and BioNTech would probably not have any effect on the new strain. Lisa mentioned that it is certainly good news that there is finally a vaccine that may be ready by the end of December and Councils are preparing for sites so that people can attend and be vaccinated. The vaccine will be delivered in 2 doses and it is important during the doses that people continue to be very careful until the body has had time to develop the antibodies.

Lisa then continued to inform everyone about a search that can be made on Google ‘A Break from caring – Barnet Council’ and from this search everyone can find different information that has been discussed in previous weeks. Everyone made a note about this. This led to other questions raised from everyone on the various topics and Andrew from Carlton Court was also able to respond to some of the concerns raised by members.

It was also mentioned by everyone in the meeting how much they really enjoy the Lisa & Mark Karaoke Show and how this has made a huge difference to their loved ones being able to singalong. In fact it was requested to have more sessions of the same if possible.

This was a very interesting meeting and everyone fed back how helpful the meeting was.

We had 21 members today. Lisa welcomed everyone and then started the Lisa & Mark Karaoke session. Members are really enjoying this and so much good feedback is being received to say that even the most progressed of members with dementia are enjoying to read the lyrics and singalong.

Lisa then changed the order a little today and called out the Bingo numbers after the karaoke as she had another meeting she needed to go to at 4pm. Today’s Bingo winners were Stephen and Brenda.

The session then followed with Sian who does the exercises with the members. Everyone really enjoy exercising with Sian as she has a different twist to what she does which also includes some line dancing and salsa for those who want to. Mark who had to take over to close the session wished everyone a happy rest of the day and reminded them of the carers session later and the session tomorrow.

We had 25 members today and it was lovely to welcome again Lawrence from Rotary Club Hendon, Christine from Rotary Club Roding and Sheila from Rotary Club Golders Green. Lisa announced sadly the loss of one of our members Ella. She did in fact come to our zoom session 2 weeks ago to visit and it was so lovely for all the members to see her and Ella was also very happy to see friends. Everyone was very sad to hear that she passed away.

Ian our music entertainer was ready with a new improved sound system today and also played some Motown music which everyone really enjoyed. Eon our exercise instructor then followed and surprised everyone with some Greek music to start with for the warm up and then followed on also with some Motown music which was great to exercise to.

Lisa then did a quick picture quiz asking members to see if they could recognise from the pictures what the horror film was called. This was a bit challenging and members needed some clues. It was still fun though. Lisa then called out the Bingo numbers and todays winners were Muriel and Ivor.

Lisa was unable to take the meeting today as she had a family emergency, Mark ran the session which run smoothly ending with Bingo and the winners today were Karin and Corrado.

We had 14 members today. Lisa welcomed everyone and also welcomed Mike Rich – CEO of Barnet Carers who joined us this evening to talk about the forum we are aiming to set up with Barnet Council.

Mike could only stay for half an hour as he had another meeting to attend. He did however explain the importance of what we were trying to achieve to allow Visiting in Care Homes. Mike informed everyone that if they were able to attend the forum to show support this would be helpful. Just before Mike was leaving, Lisa also asked about carers letters as this was something previously discussed by members as a great need. Mike very kindly informed everyone that he would be happy to provide carers letters to anyone that needed one. Lisa thanked Mike and said that she would be emailing members with regards both matters and letting Mike know.

We also had another visitor this evening – Sharon Tynan from Age UK London who spoke about the importance of having a Flu vaccine. This was an introduction from one of our members Maurice. Sharon was pleased to hear that everyone in the meeting had their flu vaccines. She did explain to us in great detail however the myths about flu vaccines which was very interesting to hear. Thank you Sharon.

Our meeting then carried on as usual to discuss other matters. Lisa informed everyone that she has decided to extend the meeting to 8.30pm and this was decided because in previous discussions it was suggested if another carers meeting could be set up at later times. Everyone was happy with Lisa’s decision. It was also discussed and suggested to set up another chat group in our meeting to enable 2 or three people to have a chat in a smaller group and talk about like-minded issues.

Everyone was happy to give it a try and Mark our technical assistant tried as an experiment to take two of the members out of the meeting which worked. Everyone decided that perhaps we could give this a go next week.

Another member mentioned he has heard that there may be suppliers that offer free central heating and heating upgrades for people that receive attendance allowance and therefore it is worth doing a google search on ECO3 and also enquire with the Council. As usual this was a very interesting and informative meeting

We had 19 members today. Lisa welcomed everyone and then started the Lisa and Mark Karaoke Show. It was good to also welcome Aarandale Manor care home. As Sian was still away after a recent loss in her family, Eon then took the exercise session and as usual got everyone working hard and made sure no one was falling asleep!

Lisa then read out a joke and then called out the Bingo numbers. Today’s winner was Joan.

We had 28 members today and we also had 2 new members. Lisa welcomed everyone and welcomed Daniel Polak a young University graduate and the nephew of one of our members. He knew that Theresa Villiers MP was joining us today and wanted to see her. Lisa also welcomed Christine Johnson again from Rotary Club in Roding. Everyone was excited today to be seeing – Chipping Barnet MP Theresa Villiers who joined us about 3pm.

Lisa welcomed her informing members that she is also one of our Patrons. Lisa then asked her a couple of questions about the Covid-19 and what she thought about the new further lockdown measures recently announced by the Prime Minister.

Theresa first gave some kind words about Dementia Club UK and the work we do in helping many people in these very difficult times. Theresa then explained how she understands the further lockdown measures will be affecting many people but we have no choice. She also explained how the hospitals are now able to treat someone with Covid very quickly and the vaccine is being prepared.

Lisa thanked Theresa and also mentioned that many of the members here are her constituents and some are from neighbouring boroughs and even from the Midlands. Lisa asked Theresa if she would take a few questions and she was happy to. The first question was from Daniel Polak who mentioned that he had met Theresa at a conference and was also interested now to becoming a Councillor. His question was regarding the American politics and who Theresa favoured in the Presidential elections.

Other questions also followed and then as Lisa had to keep an eye on the time, she suggested that members could perhaps email Theresa. Theresa was very happy. Lisa then welcomed Theresa to stay as long as she was able. She stayed for a while whilst Ian James was singing and then she had to leave.

Theresa sent a text to Lisa to apologise as she was called into Parliament as the PM was announcing more about Covid. The session continued even though it started a little later than usual but Ian was happy to carry on as normal and Eon Walters who started the exercise session after Ian was also happy to carry on a little later. As it was already quite late, Lisa called the Bingo numbers and today’s winners were joint with Helen & Chrystalla and Sheila & Suzanne.

The 383 bus service to the Finchley Memorial Hospital officially started today. Cllr Lisa Rutter has worked tirelessly with TfL for over 3 years and is absolutely delighted to have now achieved this.

She says “This is excellent news to finally have a bus service not only for staff and patients but also to all the local community who attend other services provided at the Finchley Memorial Hospital. This is a vital service which many people will appreciate and I hope this service is retained.”

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Ciaran and Ami from TfL organised with the bus operator for Lisa to attend on site to see the 383 bus on its first day. Even though it was a cold, rainy and windy day, there were a few people already queuing for the bus.

Although this is a temporary service, provided no major issues come to light, a full consultation on retaining the extension will be carried out in a few months’ time.

Finchley Memorial Hospital Community Health Partnerships ‘CHP’ have invested a sum of capital to the site to enable the new signage and road lay out that had to be installed as part of this new service. CHP want to ensure that patients experience within the hospital is to the highest possible standards and of course to make their journey to and from the hospital as easy and stress free as possible.

The route frequency will remain the same, with a service every 30 minutes (two buses per hour) between 06:00 and 20:00 from Finchley Memorial Hospital and departures times from Barnet, The Spires remaining the same (05:35-19:35).