Local care home residents recently enjoyed a visit to Bournemouth Pavilion for the first time in 20 years to enjoy one of the regular tea dances.

Norma, Betty, Sally and Bryan joined in as part of Talbot View care home’s Make a Wish initiative, which encourages residents to engage with interests and hobbies with their care home’s support.

Norma, 96, said: “I used to dance at the Pavilion when I was around 15 with my friends. We did ballroom, ballet and tap dancing. I remember being on stage at the Pavilion as well in a Babes in the Wood pantomime. I haven’t been to the Pavilion for about 20 years. It’s lovely. It brings back so many memories of when I was younger.”

Bryan, 97, said: “I played the organ at the Pavilion when I was about 19, as well as at the town hall. It was brilliant to be back there. It makes such a difference. I thoroughly enjoyed every bit of being at the Pavilion.”

Betty, 101, said: “I last visited the Pavilion a long time ago. I was looking forward to coming here. I enjoyed it.”

Sally, 97, said: “I didn’t start dancing until I was 18 when I paid a gentleman 11 shillings to teach me how to do ballroom dancing. It was nice to be at the Pavilion as I still enjoy dancing. I think with a bit more practice, I’ll get better at it.”

Talbot View, which is part of the Care South family of care homes, provides specialist residential, respite, and dementia care. It features a dedicated activities team that organises a daily programme of events to bring residents together to socialise and build friendships.

On behalf of Care South, Neil Dominy, Home Manager at Talbot View, said: “It was lovely to see the look of joy on our residents’ faces as they took to the dancefloor at Bournemouth Pavilion. At Care South, we love to get to know the individual wishes, likes and dislikes of our residents, so we were pleased to enable Norma, Betty, Sally and Bryan to take to the dance floor at Bournemouth Pavilion again.”

Bournemouth Pavilion welcomes thousands of visitors every providing year-round access to cultural events, live music and performance.

Events such as the Bournemouth Pavilion Tea Dances, free-to-attend open days, and community performances are held regularly to invite visitors to learn more about the venue’s importance to the BCP region.

Bournemouth Pavilion by registered charity and social enterprise BH Live in partnership with BCP council.

On behalf of BH Live, Steve Turner, Director of Venues shared: “Bournemouth Pavilion Tea Dances are a popular and very social feature of our community and event programme. We are grateful to all who regularly come along and support them. Thank you to the team from Care South for making this happen - we hope that more people will be inspired to come along and enjoy future events.”

More information about Tea Dances can be found here.

Photos courtesy of Care South.