The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Care home’ s got talent: Lorna sings ‘like Judy Garland’ after 92 years
Lorna Alexander started singing when she was two. At 92, she still picks up the microphone on a regular basis.
The former head teacher is a resident of Glenisla Care Home in Keith, and loves entertaining the others with songs from her past.
Staff have dubbed her Glenisla’s Judy Garland.
Lorna was very musical growing up in Meikle Wartle in Aberdeenshire with her two younger sisters, and was taught to sing and play piano by her mother.
“I’ve been singing since I was two years old,” she said. “It’s my first memory – that I was singing for a lot of people. My mother was a good singer and I sang to her.”
Lorna passed these loves on to the next generation when she was an infant teacher at Strathdon School – picking up the guitar to play to her class.
Her renditions of The Skye Boat Song and The Northern Lights of Old Aberdeen are popular to this day.
And every lunchtime she relishes singing her favourite track – Away in a Manger – to others at the care home.
Lorna moved into the home in July, and is regularly visited by husband John.
Activity co-ordinator Emily Clair said: “Lorna’s singing is absolutely lovely.
“Every week or two we’ll put on some live music in the dining room – or outside if it’s a nice day – and Lorna always likes to get up and have a sing.
“The rest of the residents really like it and they join in as well.
“We don’t have backing music, it’s just Lorna singing, but it’s music we all know.”
She added: “I think music is very important for the people here.
“We have residents with different levels of dementia and quite often they don’t remember anything – but you can put on music and they’ll know all the lyrics.
“Quite often we have music-themed days with different instruments and everyone has a shot.
“We have a lot of musical people here – they always put on a good show.”