By Abbey Cannan
The Silver Memories Road Show team brought joy to Noosa’s aged care homes last week by using nostalgic music to address loneliness.
Operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week, Silver Memories is a unique radio station dedicated to cheerful and gentle music from the 1940s to the 1970s, and is designed to enhance the quality of life for seniors, especially those facing cognitive challenges.
By providing a tailored music experience, it has had a transformative impact on the lives of countless seniors through 170 roadshows and has been observed to improve mood, reduce agitation, and increase social engagement among listeners.
Arcare Noosa resident Anne Haliday said the songs brought back nice memories from her youth.
“It was entertaining and good fun. He involved us all in different ways which was great,” Anne said.
“The songs brought back memories and there was a couple there that I nearly cried. I went to lots of dances at the halls when I was younger.”
Silver Memories Road Show host Ronnie Park said he believes music can help social isolation and depression, particularly for those with dementia.
“I’ve noticed that sometimes the last thing people remember is music,” he said.
“Yesterday there was a gentleman at Sunrise Beach who had been quiet the whole show until I played one song and he stood up and sang the whole song.
“He said he won a gold medal singing that song when he was young. The way to keep your light shining bright is to listen to music.”
The Silver Memories roadshows bring their radio broadcast service to in-person interactive sessions where attendees can listen to the music, interact with volunteers, and enjoy a sense of community.
They stopped by Arcare Noosa, Arcare Peregian Springs and Blue Care Sunrise Beach last week.
“I do the radio shows and three years ago I thought of the idea of playing music and the first couple of times was trial and error,” Ronnie said.
“We switch it up from old songs they can sing along to, to songs where they can dance.
“It takes about 10-15 minutes until they realise what’s going on and then all of a sudden everyone’s dancing.
“I’m a volunteer so I just get so much satisfaction seeing the smiles on people’s faces and doing things that they wouldn’t normally do.
“We rely on donations and a lot of the aged care facilities make donations so we can keep running.”
Arcare Noosa lifestyle coordinator Bernadette said it was amazing to see the resident’s react to the Road Show.
“Our residents are a little hesitant to try things but this was very interactive,” Bernadette said.
“They were singing and everyone knew the words. Everyone was smiling and I got lots of positive feedback. Our residents that don’t normally attend activities came as well.
“We would love more of these interactive events at the home. It was perfect.”
