Friends of One Tower Bridge Road

The Entelechy Arts work alongside those who are often marginalised in the society due to their complex disabilities or advancing age. The Tea Dance is an event taking place biannually at the Tower Bridge Care Home which involves residents and visiting artist.

Residents of One Tower Bridge Road Care Home were actively engaged in the event as performers. Some of the shows included singing, dancing, and presenting poems full of witty jokes and wise riddles.

Two of the performing residents were paired up with the Associate Director of Entelechy Arts Organisation, Rebecca, presenting simple movement techniques in dance routines accompanied by music from the 70s and 80s such as the ABBA’s perennial Dancing Queen.
Alongside the dancers, resident vocalists enriched the event by performing a capella and with backing track, pieces by Olivia Newton-John or Luis Armstrong. The elements of dance and music were complimented by poetry reading of the well-known Spike Milligan.

The event brought together the residents, carers, and volunteers who together have gone an extra mile to create a warm and delightful atmosphere. The sense of unity and togetherness emanated from the range of voices mixed in the full choir.

The Entelechy Arts team as well as the staff, volunteers, and residents of One Tower Bridge Care Home have worked on an extraordinary spectacle that served as a form of therapeutic recreation and an opportunity for residents to get involved in a genuine social interaction.

Interactive arts, a form of a non-pharmaceutic therapy, can be key in tackling loneliness and declining cognitive health in elderly. Residents engaged in artistic processes which have been documented to make a positive impact on physical fitness, encourage playfulness and sense of humour and strengthen social bonds. The Entelechy Arts contributed to improving lives of seniors in Tower Bridge Care Home by delivering a powerful message that art and creative projects are source of joy and can be a routine bulldozer for residents.

“I am nervous, yes; everybody’s there, looking at me. But this event brings us together and makes it feel more like home rather than just a care home.”  – Resident at the Tower Bridge Care Home

The service offers residents of One Tower Bridge Road Care Home a range of goods to purchase including books, music records, cards, toiletries, gifts, and sweets. The residents can make independent choices and treat themselves or their loved ones by choosing items from the “shop on wheels”.

Not only does Trolley Service respond to residents’ need of purchasing basic goods, but it also provides an opportunity to chat with volunteers on duty. Visiting the residents’ room on a regular basis allows volunteers to engage with residents and brighten their day with a chat. Conversation – a seemingly simple act – can make a great impact on an elderly person’s sense of well-being. The Trolley Service also captures some of the elements of life happening outside of the care home which residents long for the most. Incidental chit-chats resulting from the service stand a chance to become a beginning of friendships and meaningful relationships between residents and volunteers, allowing volunteers to play an active role in making residents’ lives more enjoyable.

They did so in order to discuss how to support the residents of the home who find it difficult to leave their rooms.

A list of residents was created who would appreciate room visits so that this could be used in future for staff to direct visitors to the Home to pop in with these residents even if just for a quick chat.

The meeting also covered the topic of Christmas and what would be the best way to improve the festive visits and celebrations so that the residents feel like they are a part of a big happy family

This project will be a trolley service, with the aim to improve each of the lives of the 128 residents of the home. By setting up a trolley service it means that Friends can visit the residents in their room on a daily basis, to offer the option of buying items or just having a chat. Following from this, other activities will develop.

What happens on the trolley will vary: it may be sweets one day, toiletries, or books on another or even a theme for the holidays, for example Christmas.  It will be an opportunity for the residents to treat themselves or a loved one, even if they are unable to get out to the shops. Even if the residents don’t wish to buy anything, the trolley service will encourage friendly chats on a daily basis and help to ease the loneliness and isolation that can occur.

Volunteers will be trained and will run the trolley service, to give the residents a chance to see new faces and make some new friends.

The residents will be encouraged to request items such as socks or toiletries, and the trolley will have some small freebies to give away.

When the opportunity arose he immediately signed up and has become one of the homes regular visitors. When he is not at Tower Bridge, Steve dedicates his time to working with The London City Mission along with spending time with his wife, Beth.

After only a short time volunteering, Steve noticed the home had many more residents with dementia than the previous homes he had volunteered at. He was forced to rethink his ways of communicating with residents in order to form relationships. Steve found the best way to do this was through one on one conversation with each resident.

Steve noticed that the residents at the care home enjoyed activities and interaction with each other. As his mission is to “bring spiritual support to people,” he was immediately attracted to the weekly Church services held at the home. He is currently thinking how these services may better connect with the residents.

Steve would like to explore the idea of small group work with the residents. Through group activities which would involve more music, bringing in outside objects and interaction between the members, Steve believes a “more dementia friendly place” can be built to address spiritual issues. Steve would like to see the residents become more engaged and ultimately create a fun and relaxing place for everyone to spend their time.

Along with the regular Tuesday Church gatherings, Steve favors one on one chats over tea and coffee. While some conversation topics have made him uncomfortable or caused him to “think outside of the box,” he is grateful for the new set of resources he has gained. Steve realizes his experiences volunteering in the home have in many ways “deepened him” and created an impact on his life.

The Friends were delighted to announce funding has been awarded to run a trolley service in the home.   We have also applied for funding for mobile multisensory equipment and to fund an arts and  performance project in the home.

The account were reviewed and adopted and committee members elected

Overall, we have evidenced further that the community is interested in the residents of One Tower Bridge Road and prepared to give up its time to support them. We have developed our work with churches and colleges and continue to attract a diverse group of volunteers.

As part of his role, he is patron of each of the friends groups in care homes.

Pictured above, he is talking to Nichole, project manager, and Kahlil who is newly appointed to the team. He was delighted to hear of the progress to date.

The Proximity London team of 4 decided to put on a tea party with a twist: a glitzy cruise ship sailing the seven seas. The event kicked off in the garden with some deck games (the sun was shining), drinks with fancy straws were flowing and streams of bunting transformed the garden. They then moved inside for some delicious sandwiches, cake, tea and coffee and a harmonious sing along. Feet were tapping, there were one or two solo efforts, and most of the residents didn’t need the words, their memory served them well. The residents all have a range of needs and the volunteers were fantastic in communicating with everyone. They ensured the whole group were smiling, well fed and watered!

‘Volunteers and clients had a great experience and hopefully it was the first of many projects to come’  Paulette Dixon – Activities Coordinator at One Tower Bridge

His wife’s aunt stayed at the care home a few years ago and he has always had the idea of helping there one day.  Over the years he has done volunteering work such as transporting elderly between their home and day center, and helping out in the volunteer center for Westminster inputting and updating the volunteer database. He stopped helping there when the volunteer center moved premises from Paddington to their current address.  Volunteering work is fulfilling, with a sense of achieving something good while helping others.

Originally, he began visiting a Chinese lady (90 years old), but David also visits a Chinese gentleman (83 years old) who moved from the Camberwell care home in December. The resident’s wife told him her husband was feeling poorly and had been given a room close to the nurse’s station. “He likes me and smiled a lot when I visited him,” but David sensed he suffered from dementia and seemed unable to remember recent events. The resident often talked about his days back in the 1970s.  David said, “It is interesting and sad to see how dementia affects people.”

Whether it is speaking with the residents about enjoyable past times or the Chinese New Year celebration, David always has a smile on his face ready to have a great time with the residents. It is evident how much he loves his volunteering role at the care home.

The residents often comment on how much they enjoy these little touches.

We always try to have at least 2 volunteers at each tea party. The volunteers and the residents really enjoy themselves, and the staff have commented on what a difference it has made to the home. Even the residents who can’t really communicate seem to enjoy the company and enjoy listening to the volunteers and other residents talking and laughing.  Today, one of the residents told me that I was “a dear” because “I listen to her” and thanked me for all the help I give her. This is a resident I’ve got to know pretty well over the months and I often spend quite a bit of time with her.

I really enjoy the tea parties. Knowing I have made a resident smile, and made them feel that they are listened to and valued, is a truly wonderful experience. It’s such a joy watching them sing along to songs from their youth, especially the ones who don’t normally speak.

As a Friend of the care home, Anne supports Activities Coordinators by helping to take the residents out on day trips. She also spends time one-to-one with residents to befriend them and read to them. Anne has been at the care home since September 2014, and usually comes in once a week in the mornings, but also drops in to spend time with residents on other days. One of her best moments while befriending at the care home was when a singer came to visit the residents, “some (of the residents) find it more difficult to communicate, but without exception, everyone in that room came to life.”

Background on Anne:

• Lives in Manchester
• Husband works in London
• Stays at flat near the care home 3 times a week
• 62 years old – has had an emotional response to getting closer in age to residents
• Retired from working in education – used to work with children so this is a new experience
• Feels valued by staff but wants to find a better way to bring skillset to volunteer work
• Lots of death in care homes – hasn’t personally experienced it
• Learned to develop resilience
• Working on creating a befriending group & putting together instructions so that other care homes can do the same thing