Golden oldies at Silver Song

The Silver Song club which meets at St Peter's Community Centre continues to go from strength to strength.

This week around 50 people gathered to enjoy a singsong and get-together at the monthly event organised by the Alzheimer's Society with MAST, the Memory Assessment and Support Team.

The aim of the club is to get everyone joining in with old favourite tunes from way back, or simply enjoy listening to the music, and is for all older people and their carers.

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The session is run by Cheryl Blake, who said: "It has been steadily growing - I am really pleased to see this number of people here and we have quite a few new people as well which is good.

"We do a mixture of songs and we try to add some instruments and percussion in, and also do some gentle movement as well, but generally it is just a really good singalong."

Favourite songs include Rock Around The Clock and other songs from the 1950's and 1960's as Cheryl commented: "I don't like to stereotype older people and tell them we are going to be doing war songs. We want to bring new songs and new ideas in - I like to bring in some of the Beatles, and songs like Blowing In The Wind, by Bob Dylan. We are trying to do slightly more contemporary songs in as well as the old familiar favourites."

Rosemary Iddenden of the Alzheimer's Society attends the session as a volunteer and commented: "I think for our clientele, people with dementia, it is particularly useful because they sing songs they remember, and so they can excel at something as well as the carer they are with, if they choose to come. For people with dementia there is always negatives for them when they cannot quite manage something, or it is difficult...But this is something where they are on a par with everyone else."

The next Silver Song Session will be from 2-3.30pm at St Peter's Community Centre on April 20, which includes a break for tea.