Orchard Grove celebrates tenth anniversary
On 6 September, residents, their families, friends and staff all got together at our Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP)’s Orchard Grove residential care home to celebrate the home being operational for 10 years. We wanted to celebrate this achievement of providing a decade of the highest quality of personalised care by having a huge ‘Young at Heart’ party with all the people we consider family.
Evelyn Downie, Service Manager said: “We sent invites to everyone, residents’ families and our staff, who came along and joined us as we celebrated one another.
“In the lead up to the anniversary, we formed a resident’s choir called the ‘Orchard Groovers’. We currently have 18 members and counting.
“One of our staff, Lauren, is related to Ken McCluskey, lead singer from the Scottish band The Bluebells, who cares passionately about dementia awareness. We were absolutely delighted when he agreed to sing at our tenth anniversary party with our choir. This made it a real celebration to recognise the development of our HSCP’s services for older people.”
Former Operations Manager at Orchard Grove, Trisha O’Donnell, was the weekly Choir leader and prepared our residents, most of whom live with a type of dementia or brain injury.
Trish said: “We practiced the Bluebells song, ‘Young at Heart’, which became our theme. The choir brought people together who didn’t know one another, and friendships and connections were made. We would start our rehearsals with Geraldine Dempsey, our Activities Co-ordinator explaining the meaning of the song, which resonated with all of us and triggered fond memories of our younger selves. We had great laughs and would always treat ourselves to a dance at the end of our choir practice. Being part of the choir was one of the highlights of my time at Orchard Grove.”
One of our family members whose wife Maggie is very involved said: “Maggie talks about the choir all the time and all the people she has met and how much she enjoys it.”
On the day of the party, the choir sang between performances by our professional musicians. Kirk Strachan, a local talent who has supported Gerry Cinnamon and Sam Fender, got the party off to a great start, then our talented residents took to the stage.
Trisha continued: “Most of our singers have advanced dementia, but they loved being centre stage and sang their hearts out! They belted out ‘Young at Heart’ as Ken played guitar, and I led the choir in song. Our voices resonated through the house, and you could feel the hairs on your neck stand up. There were a few tears and lots of hugs as everyone said how proud they felt.”
Cathy Browne (one of our singers) commented: “It was rather overwhelming, it was so good.”
Robin Wallace, our HSCP’s Head of Older People Residential and Day Care Services, attended with his daughter who absolutely loved it. Robin said: “Being able to share in such an incredible celebration was an honour, and it was such a privilege to be able to listen to the stories and memories of both staff and residents. The Orchard Groovers choir was a treat and the staff pulled out all the stops to create a party atmosphere that will be spoken about for a long time.”
Next up was young Elvis impersonator, Evan King. Evan is 16 years old and just home from ‘Elvis’ week in Graceland. He wowed the audience with his voice and dance moves. His jailhouse rock rendition and performance was brilliant.
Geraldine Dempsey, Activities Co-ordinator said: “Everyone was up dancing, laughing, joining in and having the best time together. We had so many beautiful stories and moments to take from the day.”
Joe Coyle, a resident’s husband said: “I walked in and saw my wife all dressed up, so relaxed and smiling. It was like having my wife back.”
Another resident’s family member said: “Maggie just talks about the choir all the time. All the people she has met and how much she loves it.”
Jennifer Brown (daughter of a resident) was in the choir with her father and said: “It was brilliant, it was like seeing the old Dad again. So good.”