Eileen’s 103 Birthday Wish Comes True With Ballet Performances In Her Care Home

A Parkstone care home resident celebrated her 103 birthday in style with special performances from two dancing schools.

Eileen, who lives at Alexandra House, has had a lifelong love of singing and dancing, wanted to watch a ballet performance as her special birthday wish.

Performers from Gemini Elite Performers Academy and Poole Academy of Dance were thrilled to visit Eileen at the care home on Alexandra Road to put on a show.

The children from Gemini Elite performed a ballet solo and sang Let It Go from the Disney film Frozen before joining Eileen for a rendition of the song, The White Cliffs of Dover by Dame Vera Lynn. Afterwards pupils from Poole Academy of Dance put on some solo ballet performances in their tutus to Eileen’s delight, alongside her daughter, Angela, friends, and the other residents at the home.

Afterwards Eileen said:
“I love ballet, especially Swan Lake. I can’t believe all of that was for me. I wanted to be a ballerina as a child, but my father wouldn’t let me. I really enjoyed it. All of the children did very well.”

Each of the residents is encouraged to share their dreams and hobbies with the care home team as part of the home’s ‘Make a Wish’ initiative. The idea behind it is to enable the residents to pursue hobbies or interests that they otherwise would not be able to do without the support of the care home team.

Last year Eileen took to the ice rink in a wheelchair at the BIC in Bournemouth town centre for her 102 birthday wish. Earlier this year, Ann, who also lives at Alexandra House, visited Dorset Heavy Horse Farm Park as part of her 80 birthday wish to ride in a horse and carriage.

Georgina Powell, Home Manager at Alexandra House, said:
“It was lovely to see Eileen’s face light up when the pupils from the two ballet schools came in wearing their dancing clothes and tutus to perform. She beamed from ear to ear the whole time which was lovely to see and some of the other residents were surprised to hear how well she can sing. At Care South, we love to safely make our residents’ wishes come true and we are always keen to make an extra special effort for their birthdays.”