Westmorland Homecare Penrith sponsors special music session for its clients and local schoolchildren

Westmorland Homecare’s Penrith branch sponsored a Music for Dignity session at Annie Mawson’s Sunbeams Music Trust in the town.

The event involved singing, music from a pianist and a harpist and dancing.

“We regularly hold socials for clients to get together because they can often be quite isolated and don’t have the opportunity to get out and about and we thought this would be a really nice Christmas event for them,” said Charlotte Cooper, the branch’s care manager.

The Sunbeams Music Trust’s Music for Dignity programme uses music for therapeutic and educational benefit and aims to improve quality of life through the power and creative freedom of music.

“We sponsored a music session and invited along users of our service,” said Charlotte. “The session was also open to others in the community who also like to attend Sunbeams sessions who are not clients of ours, so it was a great opportunity for our clients to meet new people.

“We also sponsored a school trip for the children of Bolton Primary School to come along and join in the session as well as there is a lot of research into the benefits of intergenerational activities.”

She added: “There were lots of Christmas songs. We tried to think of songs people from any generation would know, such as We Wish You A Merry Christmas, Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer and White Christmas.

“We also provided lunch and refreshments and lots of home-baked biscuits and cakes for both the children and adults to enjoy.

“We received some lovely feedback from the event with one client’s wife stating they had both enjoyed it very much and adding: ‘Paul even extended his growing vocabulary to say “it was lovely” when I asked him last night.’”

A spokesperson for Bolton Primary School said: “The trip was sponsored by Westmorland Homecare who provided the transport to allow us to attend the music session and an amazing lunch for the children, as well as a little gift for each child. A huge thank you to Westmorland Homecare for this.

“It allowed our KS1 children to get involved with the local community, listen to some very talented musicians, have a sing-a-long and some dancing! It made us all feel very Christmassy.”

Charlotte added that mixing with young people was of real benefit to clients. “Children don’t see the barriers and treat them just the same as everyone else which is really nice for the clients.

“It is also a great opportunity for children to integrate with elderly people and understand their challenges.

“One of Westmorland Homecare’s key values is enriching people’s lives and this event reflected that. It is not just about caring for clients’ basic needs but going the extra mile to make sure they are getting enjoyment out of life.

“The service we provide ties in a lot with what Sunbeams is all about. Like us, they focus on people’s abilities, not disabilities, which really promotes people’s self-confidence.”