Watch heartwarming video of East Lothian care home residents dancing after staff buy them a jukebox
and live on Freeview channel 276
Staff at The Abbey, in North Berwick, rented the old-school speaker from an entertainment business as part of their ‘50s week celebrations’, an event to keep the elderly residents entertained.
The video, taken by a staff member, shows the residents in full swing dancing to some old classics.
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Hide AdAfter seeing how much laughter the jukebox brought to all those working at the care home, staff decided to ask City Fair Amusements to sell it to them – and the company agreed.
The care home then set up a gofundme page to raise money for the jukebox and just days later they had raised more than £3,000 to purchase the device.
Kayreen Jones, manager at The Abbey, said: “The jukebox gave so much enjoyment to our residents, for whom dancing and singing to the jukebox brought back many good memories from times past.
"There was a lot of fun and laughter and it helped all of us to keep and get in some good daily exercise.
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Hide Ad"It made such a positive difference that we asked City Fair Amusements to sell it to us and they agreed.”
The fund, which was established by The Abbey solely to support activities that benefit residents, is entirely separate from the mainstream funding that covers the day-to-day running of The Abbey, Kayreen said.
She added: “We have been totally blown away by the generosity of our staff, residents’ families and members of the community for their jukebox donations. We raised a total of £3,148 on Go Fund Me and £230 in cash donations in one week! I cannot thank them all enough.”
East Lothian IJB chairwoman councillor Fiona O’Donnell said: “I think this is just brilliant and just shows what amazing community spirit surrounds The Abbey. The jukebox is such a good idea and must stimulate lots of wonderful memories. It’s a great contribution to the health and well-being of everyone at The Abbey.
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Hide Ad“I’d just like to echo all that Kayreen has said about people’s generosity too and thank her and her team for being so creative in supporting residents and families to keep cheerful in these very difficult times.”
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