While we can’t host Happy Days live we thought we’d introduce some activities every other Friday (when the reminiscence telephone calls aren’t on) – please join in on our Facebook page.
This week’s activity:
What’s your favourite food? What are your memories of that food? Why do you love it?
Sam: So I’ll start – cake! Memories of cooking with my mother and grandmother. The types of cakes have changed over the years but I still love cooking and making something special for family celebrations. My Gran’s old Kenwood mixer, which is probably older than me, sits in the kitchen ready to make a cake in minutes… 
I made this vegan sugar free/grain free chocolate orange cheesecake recently. I used a blender to make this cheesecake. The ‘old lady’ can’t grind nuts!

Playlist for Life started a new group called Soundtrack of your Life started on Monday: It’s at 2pm for up to an hour. For carers and a loved one with dementia, in a small group, to explore and enjoy music that’s special to you. A sort of Desert Island Discs … Calls are free. To book places or to find out more, please contact Gill at Playlist for Life – email gill@playlistforlife or phone 07712 273 947 (Mondays to Thursdays).

Alzheimer’s Society is offering Singing for the Brain online. Please contact Sophia on  07872866501 or Peter on 07872866502 for further information.

Here’s some resources from The Alzheimer’s Society. Here is there mental health guide and support for carers. Noticing a change in dementia symptoms?

TV Licenses – please see this email from Age UK. Here is a sample letter which contains information about payment and pension credits.

Here is a positive reply to BOPFs email about ordering prescriptions by telephone. 

Thank you to those who completed Healthwatch’s Care at Home survey in June. Although the results are limited, probably due to the short completion window and digital access required, it raises some interesting points around anxiety, family support and isolation. You can see the results here.

Please complete this very short survey by University of Bristol researchers about accessing GP appointments during lockdown. The password is GPcontact2020. Further information here and flyer here.

Lots of useful information in We Care Home Improvements latest newsletter.

This Carers Support Service page is packed full of relevant Covid-19 information, including hospital passports and local resources.

We’ve previously mentioned MP3 players and their wonderful success at calming people. If you know of a local care home or hospital ward that could use some please get in touch. We have a small amount of funding for some and we’re hoping to get more funding soon. Here’s some recent feedback from a care home:
Resident 1 – loves singing along telling stories of the songs to staff
Resident 2 –  the music made him want to dance to the rhythm
Resident 3 –  foot tapping, knee clapping and humming along
Resident 4 – stimulated, smiling and clapping, singing along
Resident 5 –  less distressed, agitated and calm Body language

We’re delighted to see this recording of Happy Days’ recent storytelling session with Michael Loader. You can watch it on his YouTube channel. Michael is offering online and outdoor activities to small groups.


Thanks to Pete Conway from The Alzheimer’s Society for this August Activity Pack. 
They are currently running Virtual Activity Groups every Thursday 11.45am-12.45pm and Virtual Memory Cafés every Thursday 3.30-4.30pm.  If you would like any further information on these or Singing For The Brain groups, please contact Sophia.Simlat@alzheimers.org.uk


We thought you would be interested in the following:

• the results of this rapid survey:Lockdown Impact on Dementia Care in the Community
• Music4Dementia Radio
• research prioritisation for healthy ageing from Public Health England. 
• A letter from Dr Naaheed Mukadam, Consultant Psychiatrist and Senior Clinical Research Fellow Consultant, UCL. It relates to a National Memory Service survey regarding services offered to ethnic minority groups.
• National Audit for Dementia & Royal College of Psychiatrists – Audit in Community Based Memory Assessment Services 2021. Consultation Webinar for Service Leads – SAVE THE DATE. 25^th September & 9^th October
• The CLEAR Tool, a resource to support managing the behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia
• Here are the results of the SleepQuest Research study
• Please see the Carers Support Service Volunteer newsletter

Member of Parliament for Bristol North West
Please see Darren Jones MP response to my email about adult social care here.

If you shop at Co-op please do support us. You can register online to support us from your membership card – all details here. You can live anywhere in the UK if you register online. Thank you to everyone who supports us this way. Last year we received an incredible £4,800 which makes a very big difference to our tiny charity.