Elderly care for ringers

dingdong887180022

Oct 9

There is much debate at the moment about the parlous state of the social care sector, particularly for the elderly. My mother has lived in a local specialist care home for the blind for 7 years. Most of the staff treat her like their mum or grandmother and they have kept her going throughout COVID. She will be 105 later this month. She is lucky. The fees are not unreasonable given the level of care required. If ever she is taken into hospital, say after a fall, the home are very good at retrieving her as soon as possible and caring for her in her own bed, rather than leave her languishing on a geriatric ward amongst strangers, which she would absolutely hate.

Not every older person who requires care is so fortunate. Some are stuck in hospital beds, others struggle on in their own homes, terrified of yielding up their independence and worried about the costs involved. The supply of good quality, affordable half-way houses seems limited. Say you can no longer manage on your own. You need sheltered accommodation with a warden to keep an eye out, but would prefer your own front door and cooking facilities. How easy is it to find if financial resources are limited and you cannot afford to buy a sheltered flat?

I was chatting to a couple of elderly ringers at the weekend. They were in their 90s, obviously still independent but age does creep up and you can never predict what tomorrow may bring. I had brought my handbells along on a mini-outing and was encouraging people to give them a try. 8 out of 10 looked horrified and shuffled out of my line of sight, but a few were lured into plain hunting.

I was explaining to my 2 new elderly friends that I am preparing myself for the day when I can no longer manage tower bells (it would be nice to have an inter-regnum between now and then when I can manage tower bells). I plan to sit in a chair with a rug snuggled across my knees and ring handbells. Perhaps younger ringers will visit and I can teach them to plain hunt. Eventually they will be good enough to ring methods, if only I can still remember them. On sunny days they will wheel me out into the garden , else we can sit by a fire, drink tea, eat scones and ring.

And then the Good Idea struck. What if there was a care home for elderly ringers? Actors and other members of the entertainment industry enjoy such places. Denville Hall in West London has been home to Brian Cant, Peter Hall, Brian Rix, Peggy Mount, Andrew Sachs and Richard Attenborough, although not all at the same time. Imagine the conversations and games of charades in the residents' lounge. I bet they play charades every Tuesday evening. Why not the same for bell ringers?

We could all ring handbells between 3-5pm every day. Tea and cake would be provided and we could enjoy regular Ringers' Teas, with loads of egg sandwiches. Young people would visit to sit at our feet and marvel at our tales of peals scored and towers grabbed. The more cantankerous, who can still remember details and hold a grudge, would refuse to sit next to the ringer who crashed a peal of Yorkshire in the last lead but one because they ignored the conductor. The woman who miscalled the Cambridge in 1972 would be banished to the chair furthest from the fire and old triumphs and disasters could be dusted off and discussed at length, possibly every day because short –term memories are shot.

But long term memories would remain. We might not be able to remember if we have had lunch yet but we would still know that Primrose is really just Cambridge but with the leads re-ordered.

A care home for ringers. What a brilliant idea. There could even be railway timetables on the walls for those that like that sort of thing and lists of things to tick off in case anyone misses the thrill of record keeping.

I would call it Done Chiming or The Last Tower (although there is already one of those in Scotland).

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