- Area:
- South East England
- Programme:
- Awards for All England
- Release date:
- 9 4 2013
A dementia organisation helping to stimulate memory through singing will establish 10 music groups in Kent, thanks to their grant of £9,500 from the Big Lottery Fund (BIG) today. The project is one of 63 sharing more than £472,000 in grants across the South East through BIG’s Awards For All programme.
Sing For Your Life Limited will create therapeutic singing groups for people with dementia and their carers across the county through the Developing Dementia Friendly Communities project, aiming to reduce isolation and loneliness among sufferers through engagement. The nationwide charity has also inspired and provided expertise to dementia singing groups in Finland, Italy, Canada and New Zealand. Helping to stimulate memory, popular songs focus on music from participants’ youth, such as Vera Lynn for people of the Second World War generation, and music from the fifties and sixties for younger members.
Around 820,000 people in the UK have been diagnosed with dementia (Alzheimer’s Research Trust 2010) and around a third of sufferers live alone (Department of Health, 2009). The Government’s most recent recommendations emphasise the importance of delivering appropriate care in the community in order to uphold a good quality of life, focusing on reducing stigma, social exclusion and discrimination, and prevention of premature admission into long-term residential care.
Stuart Brown, Chief Executive of Sing For Your Life Limited, said: “All developed countries face the same challenge - caring for increasing numbers of older people. Singing is a very cost effective way to improve their health and wellbeing by stimulating memory and by strengthening the facial muscles to improve the speech of people living with Parkinson’s Disease. Those who are affected by stroke can be helped to restore their ability to speak. Most importantly, it is an enjoyable activity which reduces depression and social isolation.
“Research has shown that participatory singing is particularly good for people with dementia. It stimulates memory, reduces depression and reduces social isolation. The programme we are going to work on will provide singing activities within the Dementia Friendly Communities, created in response to The Prime Minister's Dementia Challenge. We are going to work with a national organisation called Making Music, which has around 3,000 member groups to provide volunteers to support the service.”
Similarly receiving funding today is Folkestone-based Singing for Dementia Limited, which will use their £9,500 funding to purchase equipment to deliver group singing sessions for older people in care homes. Their project, A Song A Day Keeps The Doctor Away, will provide shared activities to address social isolation and retain participants’ skills and abilities for longer.
Sacha Rose-Smith, Big Lottery Fund spokesperson, said: “Singing is not only an enjoyable activity, but it also provides a brilliant way for people with dementia to be able to express themselves, socialise with others, and feel valued as members of a group.
“It’s wonderful to see so many good cause grants this month helping disadvantaged and vulnerable people to improve their emotional and physical wellbeing, communication skills and overall self-esteem.”
The North Kent Independent Advocacy Scheme will use their £9,970 funding to deliver workshops for disabled people in Kent, focusing on recognising abuse, bullying and hate crime, enabling participants to develop the confidence to address and report such incidents.
Social Care in Action in Southampton will use their £8,250 funding to increase their capacity to support older residents, carers and families, by providing protection for people with mental health illnesses and allowing them to be in control of future services affecting their health, finances, housing, and general wellbeing.
Rosie's Rainbow Fund in Maidenhead will spend their £10,000 funding on extending its music therapy project to deliver sessions to children who have special needs or have recently been discharged from hospital, within their own homes. This will enable the group to ensure that the benefits of music therapy can be continued after a stay in hospital and to a wider range of children in order to encourage communication and expression.
Sussex group The National Honey Show Limited will use their £7,000 funding to broadcast educational workshops and lectures about beekeeping, apiculture and honey production to a larger audience, via the organisation’s website.
The Beehive Foundation in Slough, which received £9,980, will provide after school and holiday activities for disadvantaged young people experiencing issues such as poverty, disability and family crisis.
And Ashtead Squash & Tennis Club in Ashtead, Surrey, will spend their £5,000 grant on hiring sessional coaches to teach squash, tennis and racketball to young people in the area, aiming to promote exercise, combat obesity and steer young people away from anti-social behaviour.
BIG’s Awards For All scheme offers grants between £300 and £10,000 to social and environmental projects benefitting local communities and people most in need.
Big Lottery Fund Press Office: 020 7211 1888
Out of hours media contact: 07867 500 572
Full details of the Big Lottery Fund programmes and grant awards are available on the website: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk
Ask BIG a question here: https://ask.biglotteryfund.org.uk
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Notes to Editors
- Big Lottery Fund’s Awards for All programme aims to help improve local communities and the lives of people most in need. You can apply to Awards for All only if you are a community group, not for profit group, Parish or Town Council, health body, or school.
- Grants ranging from £300 to £10,000 are available to fund a specific project or activity.
- • The Big Lottery Fund (BIG), the largest distributor of National Lottery good cause funding, is responsible for giving out 40% of the money raised for good causes by the National Lottery.
- BIG is committed to bringing real improvements to communities and the lives of people most in need and has been rolling out grants to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK. Since June 2004 BIG has awarded nearly £6bn.
- The Fund was formally established by Parliament on 1 December 2006.
- Since the National Lottery began in 1994, 28p from every pound spent by the public has gone to good causes. As a result, over £29 billion has now been raised and more than 383,000 grants awarded across arts, sport, heritage, charities, health, education and the environment.
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