Tag: dementia

Tony was back with another of his fabulous sing along sessions.

Seen here with his amplifier, we remember the early days when the group was small enough for Tony to play acoustic guitar. How the group has grown.

Creative Companion Collaborations were back again today to offer free massages to members. The team are lovely and the massages are always popular.

As Tony played on the members took to the dance floor. Tony commented we are the only place he visits where he takes two guitars as he doesn’t want to kill the mood if a string breaks, as our members go, go go.

Getting to know Team Member Peter

Peter has lived with ongoing health issues for the past 9 years. Throughout this time he has kept up a consistent strength training and exercise program that he has no doubt enables him to cope and keep him going.

He has had a life long interest in learning and photography. Infrequently he takes free online courses to better his knowledge. He has maintained a photo diary for the past 14 years posting one photo a day with a short narrative.

He believes being able to read and write is a gateway to knowledge and in his younger days spent time teaching illiterate adults to read and write.

The Reflections Friendship Group is next at Shrewsbury House on 26th May 2026 at 1pm when Julian will give us another solid hour of top tunes.

Please note: in our uploaded photos we blur the faces of all group members. You do see the faces of our wonderful volunteers.

Jamie was back to entertain us with another great show. As we have come to expect there were 12 outfit changes in an hour. He really is the master of a quick change.

Herd Mentality continues to be popular. Today we welcomed back team member Ann who joined Paola to host the game.

Jamie’s outfits always bring smiles and his Tina Turner outfit brought gasps of amazement. It is wonderful to see people’s reactions especially those who have never seen him before.

Getting to know Team Member Marilyn

Marilyn loves meeting and chatting to people and likes to be active. Her favourite pastimes are keep fit, gardening, decorating, plus cooking and entertaining. If she has any spare time she also likes to read. All this activity is certainly keeping her young at heart.

The Reflections Friendship Group is next at Shrewsbury House on 12th May 2026 at 1pm when Tony will perform another sing-a-long session

Please note: in our uploaded photos we blur the faces of all group members. You do see the faces of our wonderful volunteers.

Mark was back to entertain us. He brought along a high stool as he need to take it easy as he was still recovering from knee surgery. There was still plenty of energy.

Mayor Linda Bird came to visit the group again and joined in with the activities and some dancing.

Shrewsbury House were having the floor varnished in our usual room so Herd Mentality led by Paola was played in the communal library room. Everyone seemed to enjoy the change of view.

During the first hour, Older People’s Fitness Coach Julie was back to run another Fit for Life Workshop. Team members and Mayor Linda were on hand to assist her.

As usual Mark got the room going and there was plenty of singing and dancing from 2pm.

Getting to know Team Member Mary

Mary is one of our activity leads for good reason, she loves being active. Her interests include her dog Bella and dog walking, environmental issues, holidays trekking in the mountains, gardening, climbing, paddle boarding and kayaking, painting and sculpting and attending folk festivals. It must be what keeps her young. How does she fit it all in!

The Reflections Friendship Group is next at Shrewsbury House on 28th April 2026 at 1pm when Jamie will perform his Born in the USA show.

Please note: in our uploaded photos we blur the faces of all group members. You do see the faces of our wonderful volunteers.

Elvis was back in the building wearing his finest Las Vegas outfit!

Scott Elvis has all the tunes and the moves to entertain the group.

Today we were celebrating Easter. Janet went round offering members an Easter Egg.

Eyes down! Bingo caller Dave has a regular group who love to come see if they can win a prize.

A quieter moment with Elvis after so many fast paced songs.

Elvis doing his big finale to Suspicious Minds.

Getting to know Team Member Janet

As she has got older Janet has become interested in ageing well. In her early 40’s she was put on blood pressure medication, decided she needed to change her life, lost 4 stone and joined a gym, enjoying spin (cycling) classes. She did a health and fitness program in 2023 and started lifting weights regularly, something she has continued to do at the gym twice a week. She also researches information that will help her and Peter to live well and loves to share her knowledge.

Janet is a big fan of Parkrun. She attended the first ever Greenwich Parkrun (now called Avery Hill) and to date has completed 596 parkruns via either running or walking. She also walks regularly and does line dancing. Other interests including reading and crocheting small items usually butterflies to give away.

The Reflections Friendship Group is next at Shrewsbury House on 14th April 2026 at 1pm when Mark will be back to entertain us.

Please note: in our uploaded photos we blur the faces of all group members. You do see the faces of our wonderful volunteers.

It was a pleasure to have Julian back with us again.

Julian played some great tunes and as usual there were songs from several decades.

Today Julie was back to hold the 2nd Fit for Life Workshop. Julie had this to say about her visit. “It was a pleasure either seeing you again today or meeting you for the first time. Having returned after our first session not knowing what to expect I was overjoyed to see such amazing and confident sit to stands, even if it took a few attempts to fully stand it didn’t matter and do remember those initial mini lifts are building both strength and confidence. Almost more important, however, was witnessing a general attitude of ‘can do’ which was great to see.” It is great to see so many members taking part and improving their strength and balance.

Members love the opportunity to take to the dance floor.

Getting to know Team Member Tony

Tony has always liked exercise. In his younger days he used to run 50 miles a week! These days he still loves running and most Saturday mornings you will find him at a parkrun.

In addition, he loves sailing, snorkelling and tai chi. He has also recently returned to ballroom and latin dancing. He has been a vegan for the past 8 years and loves DIY. With all these active interests he makes the ideal choice for one of our activity leads.

The Reflections Friendship Group is next at Shrewsbury House on 31st March 2026 at 1pm when Scott Elvis will be in the building.

Please note: in our uploaded photos we blur the faces of all group members. You do see the faces of our wonderful volunteers.

Tony warmed up the room on a very cold day. Janet and I were sadly unable to be at the group today as we were both unwell. The group ran as usual in the good hands of our team.

The group enjoyed a medley of 50s/60s and 70s tunes including Tony favourites.

Tony dedicated Ring of Fire to Janet and Peter. So thoughtful of him and lovely to know we were missed.

Fitness for life

Today we launched a new initiative, our Fitness for Life Workshops. It is a well known fact that older people gradually lose strength and balance which puts them more at risks of falls. In an effort to help our members hold onto and build up on their strength, this year we are working with Julie, an Older People’s Fitness Coach who will be running short monthly workshops. There will be two 20 minute workshops in the first hour of up to 16 people per workshop.

Today’s workshop focused on leg strength, in particular movement patterns to build strength getting out of chairs. Adaptions were given to suit individual abilities. Julie can be seen here explaining to the group what they will be doing.

Introducing Julie

Introducing Julie: “During my 34 years working within the fitness world I have taught a wide range of classes, both in Clubs and independently, from crazy spin (where I first met Janet and Peter) through to peaceful stretch, run my own personal training business for 25 years, managed Health Clubs and more recently taught people in their homes via Zoom. As much as I’ve loved jumping up and down and shouting – or should I say ‘encouraging’ – people, very early on I realised that I enjoyed working with those people who wouldn’t necessarily be heading to the gym but who could benefit from being shown exercise that would both relate to and help them in their day to day living, so I began running classes and workshops within the community, working alongside local Community Nurses, Doctors Surgeries and Osteopaths. I feel very honoured to be now advising and helping people at Reflections.”

The Reflections Friendship Group is next at Shrewsbury House on 3rd March 2026 at 1pm when we will have Tom Carradine with his famous Cockney Sing-a-long.

Please note: in our uploaded photos we blur the faces of all group members. You do see the faces of our wonderful volunteers.