42 members today welcomed Hanna H to the group.
Hanna sang some songs and invited group participation with a variety of instruments.
There was even a little dancing.
In the quiet room people were hard at work, with Pearl, making greetings cards (and very good they were too).
We look forward to seeing you, at our next session, on the 18th September.
We had 44 group members today – all to see Jamie giving his all in his Viva Las Vegas Show which he did. We also had an impromptu visit from the Pearly Queen of Royal Greenwich, who was incognito, which was lovely.
There were a lot of costumes
Dolly Parton was popular.
Elvis arrived, but later left the building.
Everyone had a very good afternoon. Can you spot the pearly Queen dancing?
See you next time,
It was hot, very hot. Then it started to rain, heavily. Fortunately, we had couple of guests and and everyone was kept busy – and dry.
First we had a brief talk from Gaia, the Community Safety Advisor from the Fire Brigade in Greenwich, about Fire Safe and Well – the new pilot project being trialled in five London Boroughs including Greenwich. The pilot is available to anyone over 60 or with a long-term health condition. She brought along fire safety devices, including a new heat alarm, which people are given free as part of the visit. After the talk Gaia spoke to people individually and we were pleased several people booked visits. You can find out more information about the Fire Brigade here
Tony came along today courtesy of funding from Music in Hospitals and Care and gave us another rousing rendition of some of our favourite songs.
As it was too hot to dance, Tony was able to circulate around the room and get up-close and personal.
Another good afternoon.
We welcomed back Jamie, following his highly successful first appearance a few weeks ago. Today he managed 13 costume changes and, once again, wowed the audience.
Here is Jamie in action and the happy singers and dancers.
The Big O
These boots were made for walking
Not sure about this one (Marge Simpson?)
Fortunately we had Dan on hand to test people’s blood pressure. You can find out more about this free service and Live Well Greenwich here.
The Reflections Friendship Group was two years old today. We have had a wonderful time and met some delightful people. Thank you to everyone for making the group the success it is. We are looking forward to another year of people arriving as strangers and leaving as friends.
Here are a few snaps of some of our super volunteers and a couple of our trustees at the group today.
Dot, Marc, Maggie and Jen
Julie and Lynne
Janet and Peter
Sarah
After cakes, fizz, singing and a little dancing, Julie and Janet demonstrated synchronised flying…
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Tuesday 12th was a great day for entertainment. We had the first visit of the delightful Jamie Steen.
He delivered a variety of popular songs in a dazzling series of costumes.
Our audience loved his performance – they were singing an dancing as usual – and we have booked him again!
Everyone will just have enough time to get their breath back before he returns on 24th July.
A busy month!
We ran three Friendship Groups in May. Young Tony came along to sing to us as usual. Janet started a new seated exercise session, which was very popular indeed – more of these to come. We had the usual quizzes, aqua painting, dominoes and lots more.
Our regular monthly evening Carers’ Group had us talking about the issues of the day for carers. There was a lot of discussion on how to safely plan a trip away for elderly people who have memory and other issues. As ever the group was mutually supportive and came up with many ideas.
Janet and I spent two days at Oxleas early in the month. The first day was an awareness event, where we had the opportunity to speak to a variety of people with a recent diagnosis and their carers. The second was a chance for us to meet the latest Cognitive Stimulation Therapy (CST) group, have a chat, and invite them to move on to out Friendship Group.
Over five days I addended an introduction course, then started as an “apprentice”, as part of the latest Remembering Yesterday Caring Today (RYCT) group in Woolwich. For more information on the 10/12 weekly themed reminiscence sessions see the comprehensive web site here.
Towards the end of the month I was very pleased to run my 33rd Dementia Friends session. Thanks to Bob the (website) builder for arranging the event. I have now presented to over 700 people as my contribution to the 2.5 million Dementia Friends. If you want to know more about Dementia Friends, please contact me or visit here.
Janet and I then attended the innovative Dementia Action Week event in Woolwich library on the 24th. Angelika had set up a Dementia friendly Street with the help of Richard and the other library staff. The “street” included businesses and services across the borough which have received recognition for being dementia inclusive. There is more about what Greenwich is doing to become a dementia friendly Borough here.
Finally we popped along to the Park Avenue Care home on two days, to sample their entertainment. We were so impressed by one of the singers, Jamie Steen, that we booked him on the spot to perform at our Friendship group. More about Jamie here.
Enjoy the sunshine.
Another fun afternoon. The sun was shining and a packed room enjoyed Tony’s sing-a-long. He is always popular and there was lots of singing and dancing.
We also launched a guided seated exercise session in our activity room. It was lovely to see that most of the group wanted to join in. As it was popular, we will run it again next time on 1 May.
A week for practicing for the knitathon at Mycenae House (this Thursday 10am-1pm see website here), aqua-painting, dominoes and… balloons. Room1 resounded to the sound of people enjoying themselves, hitting balloons with fly swatters, and causing not a few loud bangs when the balloons exploded. Great fun!
Later we had a sing-a-long to classics by Black Lace and a brave attempt to copy the actions for The Court of King Caractacus. Hectic and exhausting… more next time.
Reflections 