The monthly Studley Dementia Café has been running for over a year now. Celia Spiers, Anna Chaplain at Arden Marches and Arden Valley Churches, writes about their new initiative, Singing for Fun.
Our visitors have really enjoyed the musical entertainment that we’ve had over the past year. So much so that since October a second date for the dementia cafe has been added to each month just to sing. Singing has such a positive effect on our health and well-being and it is often surprising how we remember the songs from our past.
Singing for Fun at the Dementia Café opens at 2 p.m. and our visitors can have biscuits and a drink with a chance to chat with old friends and new or sing along to the playlist. Several of our visitors have even been seen getting up to dance together!
From 3-4 pm, Claire Fowler leads us in singing all of our favourite songs. Claire is a Choir Leader and Vocal Coach as well as a Singing for Health Practitioner (and many other things too!) and is passionate about singing for health and wellbeing. She works in conjunction with Parkinson’s UK and the Alzheimer’s Society to run singing sessions specifically for their service users.
We’ll be holding a special Christmas sing-along on Thursday 19th. All are welcome – remember to wear your Christmas jumper!
Our cafés are only possible because of an enthusiastic group of volunteers. They have all been DBS checked and many of them have had personal experiences with dementia. They provide the refreshments, a warm welcome and really enjoy getting to know all our visitors.
We are very grateful to Studley Church for supporting the Dementia Café and providing the Parish Centre – an ideal venue as it’s accessible with great facilities and plenty of parking space.
The next cafés will be on Thursday 5th December and on Thursday 19th December between 2 to 4 p.m.
They are free to attend, no pre-booking required.
For more information:
Email studleydementiacafe@gmail.com
Call Celia on 07710 198009
Look on www.studleydementiacafe.com
