Blog

We had 26 members today. Everyone was looking forward to seeing Theresa Villiers MP today. One of our members also put on his tie as he wanted to look smart.

James Le Bec our music entertainer and Richard Kravetz our Yoga instructor also joined early to see Theresa. Unfortunately there was a Division at Parliament which meant that she had to stay to vote and therefore was unable to join today. Lisa explained this to members who understood and hope to see her soon. Our programme then continued as normal.

James got everyone singing along and his music quiz was really interesting and great fun especially with the dice. Richard then continued with the chair Yoga and then followed with his general knowledge quiz which today was five questions – naming famous partners and then five other general knowledge questions.

The quiz winners today were Laurie & Sandra and Chris & Gina. Lisa then called out the Bingo numbers and today’s Bingo winners were Karin and Corrado.

We had 19 carers this evening. It was also a pleasure to welcome Mike Rich from Barnet Carers. Lisa welcomed everyone and gave her update about ‘Visiting in care homes’.

She then opened this up to the carers in the meeting and this discussion took most of the hour as this is a topic that is of great concern. Mike from Barnet Carers spoke and mentioned that he has been in discussion with Lisa regarding this matter and has suggested that it may be a good idea to invite Barnet Care Providers to a forum and also invite the Director of Public Health so that this can be discussed and hopefully reach some solution.

Everyone in the meeting thought this was a good idea and Lisa thanked Mike. Mike said that he would keep Lisa informed.

Following this discussion there were some personal matters with carers sharing experiences which were very informative. Lisa reminded everyone that next Tuesday 20th October she will not be Chairing the meeting as she has another work meeting but Kevin one of the other carers will be Chairing the meeting. Everyone was happy with that. This was a very interesting and informative meeting.

We had 22 members today. It was also a pleasure to welcome as a visitor the new President of the Rotary Club of Northwick Park – Mr Siva Thaiman. We also had some new members today

Lisa reminded the members about our visitor at Wednesday’s session tomorrow – Theresa Villiers MP.

It was then time for the Lisa and Mark Karaoke Show. This has been a great success and members really look forward to it. We played a Vera Lynn song at the end and this brought some memories for one of our members who actually had tea in a cafe with Vera in St Johns Wood in 1942 whilst he was serving in the RAF.

Lisa then introduced Sian Kenrick who today increased the tempo a little with a bit of disco dancing. Members love the exercises with Sian which provides a little bit of everything for everyone to enjoy. Sian always finishes with the song – ‘When you’re smiling the whole world smiles with you’. Smiling and laughter is so important and Lisa always tries to read a joke towards the end which members enjoy. Lisa then called out the Bingo numbers and today’s winners were JO, Grazia and Enzo.

We had 24 members today which included 4 new members. Lisa welcomed everyone and also welcomed again Aarundale Manor care home. Lisa provided some updates informing everyone about our special visitors attending. We have Theresa Villiers MP visiting on Wednesday 14th October and we also have Dame Esther Rantzen visiting on Tuesday 27th October in the evening carers session.

It was lovely to also see Sheila from Rotary Club Golders Green, Nandini from Rotary Club Edgware & Stanmore.

Ian our music entertainer and Eon Walters who does the exercise session they always join earlier to meet and join in the chatting which members enjoy and appreciate. Ian had a great selection of songs today which got everyone singing. Eon then starts straight after with the exercises to music which everyone finds challenging but enjoyable.

Lisa then takes over when the exercises have finished and reads a joke which everyone loves and then gave members 10 True or False questions. The top scores for the quiz today were our new members Susanne & Sheila and also Kevin and Pamela & Helen. Lisa then called the Bingo numbers and the winners were double today with the other new members Maurice & Rosemary and Pamela & John.

We had 24 members today. Lisa welcomed everyone and gave some updates.

Our music entertainer James was then ready to start and got everyone singing along straight away. James then had an interesting and challenging music quiz and members today scored 98 with the dice throws.

The session then followed with Chair Yoga exercises with Richard Kravetz and then a quiz. Richard’s quiz today was to guess the names of the songs and names of the singers. This was great fun as Richard had to try humming some of the songs if members needed clues.

We had 2 winners for the quiz. Lisa then called out the Bingo numbers and today’s Bingo winners are Lillian and Karen.

We had 16 carers this evening. Lisa welcomed everyone and Doctor Angela one of our Trustees. Lisa asked each to introduce and say a few words if they wanted. Lisa then gave a few updates about the Visiting in Care Homes and how she spoke at the Health, Overview and Scrutiny committee the night before and this may also be a story in the local paper.

Kevin talked briefly about his presentation to the Harrow carers and providing some good tips about conversations with social carers. One of the carers recommended that everyone should check if they are entitled to get 25% discount on your council tax. There were general personal conversations and also conversations about natural remedies that can help with various ailments. Doctor Angela also mentioned however that any natural remedies should always be checked with your GP/ pharmacist who will also advise if there are any side effects especially if other medications are already being taken.

Lisa mentioned that she would not be able to take the carers meeting on the 20th October as she has to attend a work meeting. Everyone was reluctant to miss a meeting and it was suggested that someone else could run the meeting. Kevin volunteered and said that he would be very happy and everyone was very pleased.

It was a very informative and interesting meeting.

We had 14 members today and it was a pleasure to also welcome a visitor from The London Borough of Barnet – Steve Bell from the Prevention and Wellbeing Team. Members remembered him as he attended a few times with clients to the dementia clubs before the pandemic. He couldn’t stay for the whole session as he was having problems running after his dog in the garden who was digging up his plants.

Lisa then gave some updates to members informing them that Dame Esther Rantzen who was originally visiting on the 13th October will now be visiting the carers session on the 27th October. Theresa Villiers MP will be visiting still on Wednesday 14th October and there is a possibility that an Admiral Nurse will be visiting next week’s carers session but this is not confirmed. Nigel Wray will also be popping in to say hello at one of the sessions soon.

It was then time for the Lisa and mark Karaoke session which everyone really enjoyed. We played the ABBA ‘Dancing Queen’ funny variation again which everyone thought was very funny. Lisa also wished Kevin’s wife Olivia a happy birthday for tomorrow.

Sian was unfortunately away today as her little boy ill with chicken pox and therefore Richard Kravetz took the exercise session with some Yoga which everyone really enjoys. Lisa then called out the Bingo numbers and the winners today were Helen and Chrystalla. As they have won 3 times – they are now Game 4 winners. A new game will now start again.

We had 18 members today. Lisa welcomed everyone and also welcomed Bob Hollweg – activities coordinator with 10 residents all joined in from Aarundale Manor Care Home. It was a pleasure to welcome them especially as they used to attend the dementia club sessions before the pandemic.

Lisa also gave a few updates to the members informing them that we will have a surprise visit very soon from Nigel Wray one of our Patrons. We will also be having a visit from Theresa Villiers MP next Wednesday 14th October and we will be having a visit from Dame Esther Rantzen in the carers meeting in the evening. Date TBA.

It was a surprise today to see our music entertainer introducing his dog hand muppet he calls Theodore. Members thought it was very funny. Ian informed members that he was going to use the dog hand puppet to do a children’s show. Ian as usual entertained everyone with a variety of songs. As Aarundale Care Home also knew Ian, they were happy to see him too.

The session then followed with exercises with Eon Walters which as always gets everyone working hard but its always fun too. Lisa then showed members a funny Abba –‘ Dancing Queen’ Karaoke which everyone enjoyed. This was followed by a picture quiz of Male Hollywood Actors which was challenging but fun. Lisa then called out the Bingo numbers and todays winners were Helen and Chrystalla.