Vintage Tea Dance Sets Feet Tapping
Residents and visitors at a Poole care home enjoyed dancing and companionship with a free ‘open house’ vintage tea dance.
The get-together at Colten Care’s newly opened Bourne View in Langside Avenue followed an initial ‘summer social’ held at nearby St Mark’s Church.
The Bourne View dance was promoted in local community centres, lunch groups, assisted living apartments, Gateway Church in Alder Road, and St Mark’s.
Alongside the dancers, singer The Big TL, aka Tony Letts, performed vintage hits by stars such as Nat King Cole, Barry Manilow and Michael Bublé. The fun was accompanied by tea and homemade scones and cakes.
Barbara Mason, a short-stay resident at Bourne View, said: “I really enjoy having different people coming in to visit us and what’s particularly striking about this home is that this is what happens all the time. Today I’ve had a lovely afternoon at the tea dance. The music was perfect. I’m exhausted but it was great fun!”
Members of the Alderney Manor dance group, who enjoy ballroom sequence dancing, were among the visitors. Two of them, Margaret Howl and Thelma Cook, were also at the dance held at St Mark’s.
Margaret said: “It’s great that a care home is reaching out to the community like this. Bourne View is such a beautiful place and it’s lovely for people to come along, get involved and see the residents get up and dance.”
Thelma said: “The afternoon was open to anyone keen on social interaction. We’ve come in and had a little jig with the residents. The tea’s lovely and the entertainment’s enjoyable too.”
Helen Lacey, Senior Customer Adviser at Bourne View, said: “This is the first time we have undertaken something like this at one of our care homes. It demonstrates to the community that our residents can have a really good time even in a care setting. It’s a world away from traditional expectations of a care home. We hope to build on this for the future with more events in the community and in our homes. Our residents and visitors all had a really enjoyable afternoon.”
