I enjoy doing the occasional reading for The Stroke Club so this year I have branched out and put together an event for Crossways, a residential home for elderly people who cannot look after themselves.
This is the first time I have sung in public accompanied by my husband on the piano, but I know that a few Christmas songs and carols would brek up the readings and be fun for the residents. They particularly enjiyed the readings about Christmas past, such as extracts from John Clare and Charles Dickens.
As part of the event, they wrote some lines for a group poem in the interval. Here is the group poem.
Christmas Is
The children’s smiles when opening their presents
A nice happy crowd who enjoy their food
All the lovely presents of chocolate
The shimmering tree
A good piece of pork on the table
Sitting and listening to Christmas songs
Having a glass of red wine
Remembering all the Christmas trips from school days
Christmas is a time to be happy and joyful.
(Group poem written by the residents and staff at Crossways, Lostock)
And a Christmas thought from Thelma
Christmas is a time for families when we all meet together to sing songs of praise and to honour the birth of Jesus. We must all be grateful for everything we receive, be nice to our family and friends. We must think of everyone and about all the poor animals who need our help, especially at Christmas time when so many are cruelly abandoned.
Angela Topping 
They loved it. Much better than being stuck by the telly for entertainment. It got them exercising their minds. Showing them it is okay, one of those residents now regularly gets on the piano to play as many of the old songs as they can remember. And, shortly after your reading, as this person played Silent Night we had another of your audience standing upstairs on the balcony unbeknowns to the piano player, merrily singing along (sadly, I didn’t have a camcorder handy to capture it). You would have been so proud!! Wish we could get them involved in participation events more regular. WE DON’T DO IT ENOUGH!!
Thank you, Angela xx