Well, this week has been full of highs and lows like being at Blackpool Pleasure beach and a rollercoaster. Let me start with the best bits and to be fair there are a lot of best bits.
On Tuesday Paul and I did a session at a new care home called Blenham House. When you start in a new place you can never be sure how people will respond, either residents or staff. What was clear is that people responded well and those who were verbal sang and shared stories, those who were non-verbal quite clearly responded with movement to the music which was lovely to see. What I am always amazed at is when we ask people for their Co-op number that there are always people who can tell me not only theirs but even other relatives, which is what happened at Blenham House.
We have several things that we will be doing over the next few weeks. One is our Sing-a-thon on the 9th of November. This will be our fourth year of the Sing-a-thon and means that we will sing for twelve hours and ask you all if you will sponsor us. Most of the day is on Zoom with a one-hour session live from the Festival Theatre in Edinburgh.
On Saturday we were part of a wonderful musical performance called Dementia the Musical. It is based on three people who are well known as Dementia activists in Scotland. It tells the story of their fight to get their voices heard within a system that feels it knows what is best. One of the things that we all need to realise is that there is no such thing as people with dementia, only individuals with a lived experience of dementia. Each person has a different representation of dementia, and each person has a voice that will tell you about the way they experience dementia. If we are to be able to offer an environment that offers the greatest support and maximise people’s ability, then we will need to listen to each voice and provide a support that is as different and unique as each person is who lives with dementia. There is no reason why the care we give to people can’t be more individualised, it just means using resources differently. At Forget Me Notes we are committed to help make this happen.
The 11th to the 14th November sees the second Dementia Arts Festival in Scotland. It is going to be a great event and one that we will be a part of. The Choir will sing at the reception as the arts festival opens. We will also be doing a presentation on the Wednesday as well as having a place in the exhibition throughout the week. The impact of the arts festival will hopefully be immense and one that will change people’s perception of the arts and the way in which we support those living with dementia. We are only one of many groups who will be participants at the festival so I know we will learn so much and I am looking forward to learning new things.
As I spoke about the week having lows, I need to share with you that on Friday one of our Forget Me Notes, Peter Cormack died. You may well have watched him play football for Hibs and Liverpool. Peter and Marion have been a part of Forget Me Notes for some time now, singing with us and sharing stories of their lives together. I know Peter’s favourite song and we have sung “Kissing in the Back Row” many times. One song that meant more to him than so many others is the Liverpool anthem “You’ll Never Walk Alone” and no-one sung it with more heart than Peter. Just a few weeks ago I visited Peter in the care home that supported him. Visiting Peter was always great, he usually made it very clear how pleased he was to see me, however this day his response wasn’t quite what I hoped for. I thought I would have a go at changing the mood. In the sitting room with all the other residents and staff doing different things, I launched into singing “You’ll Never Walk Alone”. Peter’s eyes lit up and together we sang. Before long the domino players joined in, then some of the staff and soon we had a choir of voices. It may not have been Anfield Stadium, but I left the Care Home feeling that we had created a community event that warmed my heart. Since hearing of Peter’s death on Friday, I can’t get that song out of my heart and have sung it so many times since I heard the news. When Bill Shankly signed Peter for Liverpool he said, “Peter Cormack is the missing link that we have been looking for at Liverpool”. Not only did Bill Shankly find his missing link, at Forget Me Notes we found our missing links when both Marion and Peter became part of the Forget Me Notes family. As I have said before we have a saying at Forget me Notes “Once a Forget Me Note always a Forget Me Note”. That doesn’t change Peter, you have a place in our hearts forever. Marion, we send our love to you and each member of your family at what must be such an awful time. We are here for you and will continue to sing our songs and tell the story. We have been so honoured to be able to sing Peter’s stories and the stories of those people with a lived experience of dementia.
Love and thoughts for you all this week.