Bernard launches song book initiative for nursing homes
Bernard Jennings with his book of 'Songs our parents sang' Photo: Michael O'Rourke Photography
CARLOW town resident and founder of Club D’Art, Bernard Jennings, has launched an initiative to put song books designed with an older audience in mind into every nursing home in the country for free.
The book is tilted and includes the lyrics of a number of well-known songs.
The well-known retired optician was inspired to launch the initiative by his regular visits to nursing homes, where he carries out sight tests. During his visits, he often tries to get the residents to sing as a way of engaging them.
“The book is aimed at the nurses so they can try and get the residents to sing,” Bernard explained.
Bernard pointed to the many benefits that singing can bring to older people, such as improving cardiovascular and respiratory health and stimulating brain activity to support memory and cognitive function.
The songbook meets HIQA (Health Information and Quality Authority) requirements and was designed with the needs of older adults in mind. The song lyrics are printed in bold, big print and on washable paper. Carlow resident and designer Bridget O’Shea did the book’s layout and Bernard praised her incredible organisational skills and help on the project.
Bernard aims to put five free song books into every nursing home in the country. He is funding this initiative largely by himself, although he received a small grant from the Arts Council and Creative Ireland.
“I am going to lose money on this, but it does not bother me,” Bernard said.
Since launching the initiative in May, he has sold over 250 songbooks. He has used the money that he has raised from selling some books to print more songbooks to give away to nursing homes.
The songbooks are currently in over 30 nursing homes throughout the country, but Bernard says that he will not be satisfied until they are in every nursing home. According to his research, there are 550 nursing homes in Ireland.
“I am probably going to get the Lions Club to help me distribute them,” Bernard said.
Bernard does not plan to stop at just one songbook, as he wants to do another song book in Irish and another that features Christmas-themed songs.
