#MusicPower!

Picture the scene its April1963 and a soon to be five year old is nagging his Mum to go and collect his birthday present. Its only a short trip about a quarter of a mile down Gladstone Avenue into the High Road and Savilles Records. Being too short to catch the shop assistants attention Mum held me up to the counter for me to utter the words "From Me To You by The Beatles please." With shiny 45 in my hands it was a quick trip back to the front room at Pelham Road where the trusty all in one Garrard record player was waiting and as the saying goes the rest is history.

Since that day music has been one of the constants of my life I can't remember a day without it but I do know when I hear certain tracks the memories come flooding back. 'Hot Love' by T Rex reminds me of early family parties, "Hide in Your Shell' by Supertramp reminds me of the teenage angst years of the middle 70's and endless games of risk with my mate Gerald, 'In My Life' by the Beatles puts me on a train on 9th December 1980 reading the headline "Lennon Shot Dead' from another travellers newspaper. My wife still looks at me in amazement when a song comes on the radio and I say I can remember buying this on holiday in Margate 1972, I was wearing a trendy pair of yellow flares at the time. In case you're wondering it was Starman by David Bowie on the RCA record label.

The way of listening to music has certainly changed since the days of the record player or in my Grandmas case the enormous teak radiogram. Now I have more music in my Itunes library than I could ever have dreamed possible back in the 70's. Radio has also changed I remember Tony Blackburn hitting the airwaves at 7am on Saturday 30th September 1967, 'Flowers in the Rain' by the Move providing the answer to pub quiz questions ever since. In those days the charts ruled and you listened to what you were given. The 70's saw the rise of commercial radio with in London Capital 194 home of my radio hero Roger Scott leading the way.

Fast foward to 2020 and we have so much radio it can now seem overwhelming, DAB , the internet, and apps have all added to the traditional airwaves so why do I still get the feeling we're not taking advantage of all the possibilities technology brings. The Power of Radio for people living with Dementia and their carers is immense so I was heartened to see the launch of M4DRadio which is associated with the excellent Music For Dementia 2020 initiative. Give it a go you won't be disappointed. Too often in my opinion music is used as a space filler without much thought behind whats actually playing. In doing the work we've been doing during lockdown we've found Rosemary a bubbly 80 something who loves the Pet Shop Boys and a family requesting Guns and Roses for their Grandad.

Having started in 1963 I'm going to end in 2016 I hadn't been at the Alzheimer's Society long when 93 year old Winn wanted a word. Playing in the background at the time was what I'd termed the "My Old Man Said Follow The Van" CD full of musichall songs dating back to the 20's and even earlier. "Pete" said Winn "Do we have to listen to this old stuff can't you put on some Abba or Michael Buble I like him." The moral of the story you'd never presume what someone likes to eat based on their age why do you presume what they want to listen to?