One foot in the rave
Nightclub’s OAP disco revives happy memories for care home residents
A CHEER ripples across the dance floor and the euphoric revellers throw their hands in the air as another classic anthem booms from the sound system.
This is Pryzm nightclub, weekend haunt of teenagers eager to party until the early hours and home to a saucy show by the Dreamboys on occasion.
But the clubbers filling its flashing neon stage for this special gig are not exactly its normal clientele – more than a handful have Zimmer frames and a hint of a blue rinse – though they are proving to be just as rowdy.
Mary Edgson is 89 and met her late husband Dennis here back when the venue was called the Palais de Danse.
Now, 70 years on, she is one of around 160 pensioners returning to relive memories from their youth with an afternoon of dancing.
Sitting in a booth, she recalls being swept off her feet and how they danced to Jealousy by Vera Lynn, a song she still sings now in her care home. “I looked across the dance floor and it was love at first sight,” she says.
Debra Buxton, owner of Conifers Rest Home in Bakersfield, Nottingham, where Mary lives alongside 17 other residents with dementia, says: “It’s been on Mary’s bucket list to come back to the Palais and she never, ever thought that she’d get the chance.
“It’s a big thing, we had to think about all the risks involved but I would have carried Mary on my back here if I had to.
“It’s extremely important for them to come back here because it ignites a lot of memories and feelings. A lot of our residents are tearful because Couples dancing it brings back happy and sad memories at the same time.
“Music is definitely a key to dementia, I think. It stimulates them.”
Gladys Stone, 83, also met her husband Jack here, as they queued outside. The gran, a resident at Cherry Trees Resource Centre in nearby Bestwood Park, recalls: “I used to come here a lot, on the weekend, Fridays and Saturdays.
“I was standing outside and he came and asked me whether I was going in the Palais. He said he’d look out for me and started from there.
“When they told me we were coming back here, I thought, ‘bloody hell, that brings back some memories’ Mary Edgson, 89 – and it did.” Gloria Nicholson, 88, chips in: “You can’t stop me dancing once it starts. I enjoy dancing and singing to all sorts. Bing Crosby’s my favourite.”
The idea for the event came about last month when Pryzm deputy manager Thomas Dodd invited Alder House care residents for an afternoon Resident boogies with helper of dancing and lunch to celebrate the Nottingham club’s birthday.
He said: “We had six old ladies turn up and they had a great day. We took a couple of pictures and uploaded them to social media and didn’t really expect what happened next – it went viral.” The snaps hit over one million views and they were inundated with