We were treated to a very novel delivery of an after dinner talk on Tuesday 16th November.

All our members were in the room, but the speaker wasn't! Liz "beamed in" via Zoom video calling and we projected her on to a large screen and plugged in a portable loudspeaker. A first for our club but shows how we can utilise technology to open up our world.

Liz gave an extremely interesting and extremely engaging talk about the charity with which she is involved - "Playlist for Life". They use music therapy with dementia patients, stimulating memories and conversation. A video was shown of the therapy in action and by jove, it was great to see these people who were intially very withdrawn to open up on hearing a piece of music.

Liz then showed the process with her 'host' for the evening, Ian Stevenson. Ian had already told Liz to play "The Gambler" by Kenny Rogers. And by that piece of music and short follow up conversation, Liz then knew that Ian had been married to Myra for 44 years, was a Country Music fan and had been mistaken for Kenny Rogers himself by a fellow fan outside Dundee's Caird Hall after a gig by the late great Kenny himself!

The power of music for dementia

Over two decades of scientific research has shown that listening to a personal playlist can improve the lives of people living with dementia. In fact, listening to music that is personally meaningful has many psychological benefits, meaning anyone can benefit from a playlist. Personal playlists can:

• reduce anxiety
• improve your mood
• make difficult tasks more manageable
• evoke memories that can help families and carers connect

A link to the short video showing playlist for life in action: https://youtu.be/VMSaqD3ArHw

Liz's talk has given us an idea of using Playlist for Life in a fellowship evening after the upcoming festive period.