Blog

Dear Members,

Be aware that opportunists and criminals can take advantage of the elderly and vulnerable who are self-isolating during this period of Coronavirus outbreak.

There are people calling door to door proclaiming to be carrying out Coronavirus testing at your home for you on behalf of NHS or you GP.

The NHS are NOT conducting any door to door initiatives in regards to testing individuals for the Coronavirus, these are thieves trying to get into your home.

If anyone knocks on your door proclaiming to be conducting the tests please call the Police.

Anyone being offered “kindness” by cold callers by way of running errands, collecting prescriptions and doing shopping should not accept services from STRANGERS who may ask for cash up front, a credit card and its PIN, or gain trust simply to execute a more elaborate scam.

Since February 2020, the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB) has identified 21 reports of fraud where Coronavirus was mentioned, with victim losses totalling over £800k. Ten of these reports were made by victims that attempted to purchase protective face masks from fraudulent sellers. Reporting numbers are expected to rise as the virus continues to spread across the world.

Today will be remembered for a long time as Lisa had to sadly announce to members that all dementia clubs after today’s session will be suspended until further notice. The World Health Organisation announced that the Corona virus Covid-19 had now been declared a pandemic which means that the world is in crisis. Members were very sad as they so look forward to attending the dementia clubs but they all fully understood the gravity of the situation and agreed that I was doing the right thing taking precautions.

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Lisa also mentioned to members that whilst there will not be any dementia clubs, she wanted to let them know that they could call her any time if they had problems to discuss and also just for a chat.

The session then continued after this sad announcement and Lisa gave members another A to Z quiz to do. This time they had to find ‘countries of the world’. The aim of course is to try and find a country that has not been named by the other groups. This proved to be very competitive but also very enjoyable. Some members also did some word searches which they also enjoyed.

We then celebrated 2 birthdays. Maria’s 95th birthday which was on the 6th and Terry’s 85th birthday which is on the 16th. As usual the birthdays are celebrated with Lisa providing cakes with a firework candle – the Dementia Club UK style. Everyone sang Happy Birthday to them both.

Lisa then introduced Arzu who brought 2 big boxes containing many small seedling kit boxes which were donated by the Marks & Spencer Manager. Members received a variety of seedling kits and Arzu explained what they needed to do to grow them. The variety included – Basil, Beetroot, carrot, Chilli pepper, Forget-me-not, Lettuce, Micro cress, Pancy, Parsley, Pepper, Radish and Viola.

It was then time for some music entertainment and it was lovely to see again Mike Marandi. Members who went to the Mickie Driver Variety Show on Valentine’s Day would have met him then. Mike was really entertaining and played some lovely music favourites which members enjoyed and danced to. Mike also had some colourful clothes outfits which one of the members was happy to wear and dance to. Mike was certainly full of surprises and made everyone laugh.

This was a truly wonderful session and everyone left with a smile. Thank toy my volunteers today Angela Chen, Arzu and of course Mark.

Muz welcomed everyone today at the session and then introduced Lisa who gave a brief update about the next session on the programme this week.

Muz and Lisa then surprised Frances by presenting him with a cake to celebrate his birthday. All the members sang happy birthday to Frances which brought a smile to everyone’s face.

Today’s session was only a couple of days after International Women’s Day, so the theme of the activities was International Women’s Day. Muz and Faz introduced a colouring activity where members could use their creativity and imagination to colour in a paper shaped woman. There was also an International Women’s Day themed wordsearch for members to complete, whilst enjoying their teas, coffees and lovely cakes.

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After the colouring and the wordsearch, there were two International Women’s Day themed games to keep members occupied. Firstly, there was a true or false quiz where members were given 15 facts. They had to decide whether they were true or false. Everyone loved playing the game and learnt some very interesting facts at the same time.

After the quiz, Faz read out a short article about the values of International Women’s Day. She then asked members to name the 10 values that represent International Women’s Day. Members managed to identify all 10 with a few leading clues to help them on their way.

After the games, Richard took over with seated exercise. Richard’s session was very topical as he called it “Corona Yoga”. The idea was to get people to find a new way to greet each other that means they don’t have to shake hands and touch one another. For example, there was one exercise where members were asked to tap their feet to say hello to each other. It was a novel and fun way to get everyone to stretch and exercise. Richard also got members to pretend washing their hands for 20 seconds singing the Happy Birthday song.

After Richard’s exercise session, members were entertained with a variety of games that included golf putting, table tennis, skittles and hoop tossing. Everyone had lots of fun with the variety of activities on offer. The session concluded with a sing-a-long of five classic songs which everyone really enjoyed. Lambeth Walk was the finale and went down really well. This was a very enjoyable session.

A huge and heartfelt thanks to our volunteers Annette and Radha. They were rushed off their feet today as there was so much to do. They were both utterly brilliant. Thanks also to Lisa, Faz and Muz for helping out today.

It was lovely to see quite a few members attend today at the Finchley Cricket Club. The daily news about the Coronavirus is depressing but members were determined to have a good time.

As usual the tables are organised by Julian and Jacqueline the hosts and also Jacqueline is busy making yummy sandwiches and cakes which are then distributed on each table. Members feel really spoilt when they are there.

Lisa welcomed everyone and then asked Julian to say a few words about an event at the Finchley Cricket Club on the 27th March. Lisa then distributed the ‘alphabet quiz’ again today and this time asked members to think of words to do with ‘Things that you can wear’ There were 5 tables and each table had to make sure the other table did not hear their words.

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It was very competitive and some of the words were really imaginative and fun. As it was also ‘International Women’s Day ‘ yesterday, Lisa read out some poems, one of which was very funny and members enjoyed.

The session then followed with exercises with Eon and as usual Eon makes sure that everyone’s exercises even the ones right at the back. It’s always great fun and everyone loves Eon.

The exercises lead on without any pause with music entertainment with Ian and today Ian also brought his dog Theo who is a good boy and loves the attention. As always Ian’s bubbly personality is electrifying and members soon are up and dancing. It was lovely to also see Julian dance with one of the members.

Thank you to Julian and Jacqueline for being perfect hosts and thank you to our only Rotarian today from Golders Green Sheila for attending and helping and of course to Mark.

It was a great session at Barnet Copthall Leisure Centre today with three new members attending, Eva, Martin and Ronnie. On arrival, members were greeted with tea, coffee, cakes and biscuits and were given wordsearches and colouring to do. One of the carers, Kevin, wanted a bit more of a challenge, so Faz gave him some countdown numbers challenges and a maze game.

The session leaders today were Muz and Faz from Ping Is King Ltd. Muz welcomed everyone and introduced Lisa who reminded members about the upcoming launch event at the Eversfield Centre in Mill Hill on 27th March. Muz and Faz ran a game of Pingo, which is like a traditional game of Bingo but with a table tennis related twist. Members get to pick the numbers by fishing numbered table tennis balls out of a bag using a small sieve.

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There was a prize for getting a line and a prize for getting a full house. Ronnie’s luck was in as he scooped the prize for getting the first line. It was lovely to see a new member win a prize in his first ever game. Pingo has another twist on traditional bingo. In normal bingo there is usually only one winner, but in Pingo everyone gets a full house at the same time, so everyone is a winner and shares in the excitement!

After Pingo, there was seated exercises by Annalisa. She got everyone to sit around in a circle and then ran a series of excellent stretching routines for every part of their body. Everyone was totally focused and followed everything Annalisa did perfectly.

Aaron then performed a fantastic array of music and had everyone singing and dancing with classics like Singing in The Rain, which was particularly apt given the very wet weather. Aaron did try and get the sun to come out by playing ‘you are my sunshine’ but the rain just kept on pouring.

It certainly didn’t dampen spirits though as everyone formed a line to do the conga dance to ‘She’ll be coming round the mountain’ around the café area having lots and lots of fun. After many great songs including ‘Catch a Falling Star’, Aaron then entertained members with a music quiz. There was a record score of 205 this week! I leave the reader to decide whether it was achieved fairly and squarely!!

All in all, everyone had a really fun afternoon with colouring, word searches, Pingo, seated exercise, singing and dancing. Thank you to Annalisa from BETTER for not only running a great exercise session but also for helping to make the teas and coffees. Thank you also to our volunteers today, Annette, and of course to Lisa and Mark and Muz and Faz.

A very busy session as usual. Lisa welcomed everyone and talked about the Coronavirus and how everyone should refrain from kissing and handshakes whilst this virus is active.

Lisa then announced details of two launches this month and reminded members of the following dementia clubs.

Lisa also distributes some pictures for members to colour and word searches.

Lisa introduced Roberto Weeden-Sanz who came to visit. Roberto is a Conservative Councillor for Brunswick Park Ward together with Lisa. Roberto is also standing as a GLA candidate for Barnet and Camden in the GLA Elections on May 7th. Roberto talked about himself and the work he will focus on if he is successful in the Elections. Members were really delighted to hear Roberto. Roberto said that he was staying for the whole session.

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Lisa then introduced the alphabet quiz asking members to go through each letter of the alphabet and think of what foods they eat for breakfast. Members really enjoyed this quiz. There were some very interesting breakfasts! We were expecting Dennis to attend today to provide music entertainment but he phoned to let us know that he was unfortunately stuck in traffic.

The session then followed with some singing. Lisa started everyone first and then members took over. Ernie had a few songs and was joined with Terry and the with Melvyn. James then introduced a new way of singing. James started singing in another language and when James asked members what language it was members thought it was Spanish. In fact it was gibberish. The point James was making is that even if we don’t have the words to a song we can still sing using gibberish words as this makes our brains concentrate. Everyone was very impressed. Well done James.

Members then wanted some dance music and Lisa played a few songs which got members up dancing. Roberto was busy too as a few members got very attached to him and got him up dancing too. Roberto was a great hit with members and then joined with Mark to do a final quiz getting members to shout out the answers.

A very enjoyable session. Thank you to our volunteers today Angela Chen and Melvyn and of course Mark and some of the carers who also offer to help.

A warm welcome with cups of tea Coffee delicious cakes and biscuits,was followed by Laughter, Dancing and Fun.

Helen welcomed everyone and started the session with a quiz which everyone enjoyed. The session then followed with music and dancing.

Lovely Aaron sang a variety of songs and his personal charm got everyone on the floor dancing singing and doing the Hokey Cokey. Aaron’s musical quiz, produced much laughter as the right answer led to rolling the Dice in an attempt to achieve the highest score.

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The team of volunteers, Ritu, Mollie and Helen from the Rotary Club of Northwick Park and Selwyn from Rotary Club Edgware and Stanmore also joined in and enjoyed the afternoon.

Lisa was on hand to chat to members and also advised members on how to protect ourselves from Corona virus by following guidelines and frequently washing our hands. It was a very enjoyable session. Thank you to all our volunteers.

Our monthly Dementia Club UK session was held on the 2nd March at Sha’arei Tsedek Synagogue in Whetstone.

Our members were served tea, coffee, delicious biscuits and cake at the start of our session and were happy chatting to each other.

The very talented Jane then took an exercise session with our members which they all engaged in and enjoyed. 3 of our members had birthdays to celebrate!

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We gave Francis, Stella and Terry a small birthday cake each & sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to them! It was really sweet!

This was followed by a lively session of entertainment provided by the lovely Aaron. Aaron sang a variety of popular songs to which many of the members and helpers danced. He also did a music quiz and our members had to guess the name of the song! It was great fun! The atmosphere was fantastic!

31 members and carers attended the session with the assistance of five helpers who were:- Justine, Caroline, Keith, Dot, Lisa & Mark