A Christmas carol reading and sing-along has been taking place at HC-One’s
Market Lavington residential, nursing and residential memory care home, in Devizes.
During a recent Residents meeting, Sally Power, who lives at the home, suggested a ‘reading aloud’ group, which other Residents were more than happy to be part of.
On 6th December, Wellbeing Coordinator Riaz Ali supported a meeting of the first group, suggesting they read ‘A Christmas Carol’.
Sally took to the microphone stand and read out a few chapters of this classic book. Riaz said, “It was interesting as we paused several times as various Residents would ask questions about the archaic words used in this famous story, which was first published in 1843.”
Sally added, “I loved it and I also love helping out others who can’t read well.”
Fellow Resident Sonja Parfitt then took over the reading for a while before Sally, full of energy and enthusiasm, read again!
The group did this for an hour, and it was a gentle, relaxing session.
Afterwards, they then had another hour of singing Christmas carols, following on with the Christmas spirit that had been invoked by the reading!
Riaz then played guitar and the group sang the energetic ‘Good King Wenceslas’, which had been mentioned in A Christmas Carol, along with the gentler ‘In The Bleak Midwinter’ and the slower version of ‘Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas’.
It was a wonderful bright and cheerful afternoon for all, with some very positive comments from Residents.
Gordon Grist said, “Yes, it was a good afternoon.”
Margaret Bailey added, “I think everyone enjoyed that! I did! Thank you.”
Audrey Jessop ended with, “I will come again!”
Riaz said, “It’s always wonderful to try something new, as although I read aloud on a one-to-one basis for certain Residents, I had never tried it in a group format.”
“The fact that I didn’t need to read myself, as the Residents were happy to do it for the full duration, showed me that this kind of group has longevity, and we will certainly do it again!”