Love to Move in the Steyning Centre every Tuesday
'An hour and a half of Wonderfulness Each Week'
Promoting brain function by getting older adults moving & grooving!
The class is run by the wonderfully vibrant Cherry Tolcher and Anna Shaw from the British Gymnastics Foundation. Supported by Sport England, the programme has been a great success since launching. With help from the Steyning Parish Council and Sport England, Right at Home worked with Cherry and Anna to get everything up and running.
Why try Love to Move?
Love to Move is a programme specially designed to get older people moving and functioning better.
As well as this, there are so many other benefits of the programme helping to improve the lives of people living with dementia:
* Social Interaction - the fun and enjoyment of Love to Move makes the programme really effective. The exercises are enjoyable to do and encourage conversation.
* Memory stimulation - trying the exercises in time to your favourite music can help to stimulate memory and recall in people living with dementia.
History of Love to Move:
In 2014 The British Gymnastics Foundation began working with experts in Japan who deliver their own age and dementia friendly gymnastics programme. The Japanese programme has been so successful that it is now completely state funded, taking place in every care home across Japan.
Research published in 2016 on the original Japanese programme concluded that it significantly improves walking speed.
The programme has also been shown to:
* Improve cognitive function.
* Help reduce depression in participants.
* Improve balance.
Two years ago, the Foundation began delivering Love to Move in multiple care homes and community settings in the UK. To date, the programme has been delivering life-changing outcomes for many participants. The Love to Move programme has helped some participants to use their hands again so they can feed themselves, do crafts, play bingo and socialise with friends and family.
Vinal Karania, Research Manager from Age UK says 'It has a demonstrable benefit in the physical, emotional, and cognitive aspects of older people. Older people having mild to advanced forms of dementia appear to benefit the most'.
Refreshments and cakes are provided after the 1-hour programme allowing time to socialise giving attendees the opportunity to reconnect further in the local community. Initial reluctance to join may be encountered, but feedback from participants is overwhelmingly positive. Cherry Tolcher says 'most important is about having fun to the tunes of the 1950’s and 1960’s. You really see a difference in people’s wellbeing as they leave the class uplifted'. Owner of Right at Home, Anton van Baalen says 'I am over the moon noticing the positive difference in people from one week to the next. Their confidence, ability to carry out the bilateral exercises, and happiness is a joy to see'.
Feel free to join the classes each Tuesday at 13:30. There is a small fee of £5 asked as a contribution to help a little towards the cost of the programme.
To sign up for the programme, please email Cherry on cherrytolcher@hotmail.com or Right at Home on: worthing.shoreham@rightathome.co.uk