Singing Out at Strachan House!

Care home residents form new community choir

Residents and guests at Strachan House Care Home in Blackhall are looking forward to hitting the high note with their own community innovative choir.

Working with a local charity Forget Me Notes the choir hopes to engage their intergenerational community and create a group where the affected by Dementia have a place to still express themselves through music and song together. 

Local residents from Strachan House Care Home will practice many a varied song that allows them to take a trip down memory lane. The Choir will get together once a month with people from the community joining in and all performing together.

The Blackhall Primary School choir will also come along making it a great session of intergenerational fun too.

The idea came about when Mandy Head of Activities at Strachan House made contact with Alan the founder of  Forget Me Notes, a local charity that engages those affected by Dementia and other conditions in offering group music and song came together to discuss building a choir from a care home into the community.

“We want to demonstrate that being in a care home doesn’t mean life stops. In fact it’s just getting started. Our aim was to promote inclusion, and invite our community to have the opportunity to be part of something special.

“The choir is an arm that reaches into the community and touches those affected by isolation or loneliness and delivers a safe network of friends and support.

“This choir literally hits all the right notes!”

The choir practice will be held every second Friday of the month at 10.45am at Strachan House and will be open to all who would like to come along.

The hospitality team at the home will also provide a spread of sweet and savoury treats for guests to enjoy during their get together.

Alan said: “We are really looking forward to being part of this new and exciting project.”

General Manager, Gordon Philp said, “Our residents and guests always love a sing along together, so we are very proud of this new innotive and welcoming everyone from our community to join in our choir” 

Strachan House care home is run by Barchester Healthcare, one of the UK’s largest care providers, which is committed to delivering personalised care across its care homes and hospitals. Strachan House provides residential care, nursing care and dementia care for 83 residents from respite care to long term stays.