A COMMUNITY group in Largs is organising and funding special live music events at local care homes to mark the 80th anniversary of D-Day.
The Largs Dementia Friendly group is providing entertainers to play music from the period and to look back on the seismic events that turned the course of the Second World War towards the Allies.
Largs Dementia Friendly organised similar events at care homes in the town for the Queen's Platinum Jubilee and at Christmas.
Robbie Stevenson, who chairs the group, said: "We will be having Beatrice Clark at Hutton Park on June 5, Malky Buchan at The Burnlea on June 6, and Scott Dunbar at Haylie House, also on June 6.
Robbie Stevenson has helped to lead Largs Dementia Friendly projects with the help of a strong committee. (Image: North Ayrshire Council)
"Residents in the care homes will include people who lived through the Second World War, so it is important for them to hear the music as it will bring back memories, and we can't let this be forgotten.
"Haylie House are having a reception buffet with trustees and councillors afterwards too."
Robbie says the previous live music events organised by the group have had an "overwhelmingly positive response".
"We have had a wonderful reaction," he said. "The residents really enjoy it, look forward to it, and thoroughly engage with it, and it brings back memories.
"We see music as a great release and a stimulus. People remember these songs being sung originally so we're very glad that Largs Dementia Friendly can play an important part in providing this in the town."
The group is also hosting a 'virtual dementia tour' bus in town for four days during June, giving members of the public, care workers, and emergency services personnel the opportunity to experience what dementia is like.
The Virtual Dementia Tour is the only scientifically and medically proven method of giving a person with a healthy brain some idea of what it's like to live with dementia.
Robbie added: "With the Memory Walk on June 2, the D-Day events, and the virtual dementia bus coming, this is one of our busiest weeks of the year."
For more details about Largs Dementia Friendly, go to dementialargs.co.uk.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here