20 Aug 2018

This week at Young At Heart ULO we continued with our stimulating themes – physical games, sounds and creative art.

On Monday morning, at St John’s Church, the group took part in sound effects and TV theme quiz. We split the group into three teams across the two tables. We played a selection of common sound effects, including brushing teeth, dogs barking and sawing wood, as well as a selection of TV theme tunes that included Charlie’s Angels and Bewitched. At the end of the quiz, we ran through the answers and gave everyone a round of applause.

On Monday afternoon, we replicated the morning’s activity with a different selection of sound effects. The group was split into four teams who each gave their team and name and, at the end of the session, we celebrated everyone’s hard work. Unfortunately, one lady didn’t enjoy listening to the sound effects, so one of the volunteers took her into a side room to play dominoes with her and chat.

At Young At Heart ULO, we appreciate that our activities will not always be enjoyable to everyone in the group and also understand that sometimes people living with dementia can experience sensory stimulation differently. The great thing about our wonderful team is that we are now in a position to divide the groups into different activities with the support of the amazing volunteers and we are also able to respond to situations like that mentioned above to try to provide a positive outcome for all concerned.

On Tuesday afternoon, at the LiveWell Hub in Thornaby, we took part in physical games. Following the orientation exercises, the group divided up into those who wanted to take part in the games and those who wanted to take part in the crafts. We set up skittles, targets and quoits for the group to take part in but found that very few participants were willing to move around the room. Instead, we circulated with the quoits and ensured everyone in the group took part. Once we had been around the group three times, the members were clearly tired of the game so we changed tack and discussed popular childhood games that were played with friends or solitary.

The Thornaby members who were doing arts and crafts were continuing their work on the dog tags and poppies for the Unremembered project. Our volunteer, Anne, is doing great work with the group in supporting them (and me!) creatively.

Next week, the groups on Monday will be closed as it is a Bank Holiday. However, the group in Thornaby on Tuesday will be going ahead as normal. The group will be taking part in the sounds quiz that the Stockton and Billingham group took part in this week.