A national project for people living with dementia and their carers is coming to Bishop Auckland in January 2025.
Turtle Song is a singing and song-writing initiative for people with memory problems and all forms of dementia, and their carers.
Participants meet once a week for nine weeks, and with the help of a professional composer and director and music students, write lyrics and compose music for their own song cycle, ending in a live performance for friends and family which is recorded as a DVD.
Turtle Song is free to all participants and is acknowledged to give the brain and body mental stimulation and exercise.
The project is run by Turtle Key Arts, and is a collaboration with English Touring Opera and Royal College of Music. It has been running across the UK since 2008.
It is estimated that 982,000 people are living with dementia in the UK. Turtle Song uses the power of music and memories to enhance the lives of those living with dementia and their loved ones.
It aims to seek out people with dementia who might be affected by isolation and depression and to encourage a positive outlook through music.
The project enables participants to write and perform their own song cycle which helps improve and maintain cognitive pathways, raising self-esteem through empowerment.
The project last ran in Bishop Auckland in 2021, and will return in 2025 in partnership with the Auckland Project and Durham University.
Turtle Song will run from 23rd January to 20th March 2025, every Thursday afternoon from 2pm to 3.45pm at No. 42 Market Place, Bishop Auckland.
For more information and to sign up for Turtle Song, call 0208 964 5060 or email niamh[@]turtlekeyarts[.]org[.]uk.
Bishop Auckland's local community newspaper.
