EVERY Monday afternoon a group of elderly men and women meet for a cup of tea a biscuit or two and a heartfelt rendition of, I Belong to Glasgow.

When they arrive at Springburn Parish Church, according to the minister, most of the group, who all suffer from dementia, are barely communicating.

By the end of the two-hour weekly sing-song he says, they have, “come alive.”

Research has shown that the memory of music is one of the last things to disappear in people suffering from dementia.

“I know that any time I have taken a service in an old folks home, the people who have dementia can sing without needing a hymn-book and yet they couldn’t recognise their own children,"says Reverend Brian Casey.

Singing for the Brain was a project originally initiated by the charity Alzheimer Scotland and has now spread to a number of churches across Scotland.

Around 45 people attend the two-hour group, run by volunteers, every Monday, who live in care homes or at home with spouses or other family carers.

Rev Casey says: “We’ve got a lot of musical people in the church, we sing hymns every Sunday so why not give it a try.

“We got funding from Faith in Community Scotland. So now have Monday we have what’s called Musical Memories where people come from homes or their own homes.

“We have four people who lead the music. They made up their own songbook so it tends to be old Glasgow songs and its been fantastic.

“What I find quite heartening about it, is that people come in and they can be quite uncommunicative, quite down and then you see them going away and they are talking.

“The carers are telling us they are seeing them completely different afterwards.

“Now, we are finding that families are coming with them because it might be the only time they are communicating, excited and happy.

“They are effectively re-animated which is truly remarkable to watch.

“If it’s someone’s birthday, we bring a birthday cake in.

“They have been coming from as far as Milton of Campsie because there aren’t the services out there.

“A lot of churches are doing similar things but not on this scale. Other churches are now looking at doing it.”

Popular songs include Ye Cannae Shove Yer Grannie aff a Bus, I am a Cat, a Glesga Cat and Wild Mountain Thyme.

“It usually ends with the Hokey Cokey,” says the minister, who says he tries to make most of the groups.

It’s not the only thing the church has done to help parishioners who are suffering from dementia to continue following their faith.

He believes that churches have an important role to play in supporting people with dementia, because the majority of parishioners tend to be in the older age bracket.

“By far, church communities, tend to be in the retired age group,"he says.

“Increasingly, we are seeing people with dementia. We either look at it and think, this is happening or we think about what we can do to help.

“I think that’s why we launched the Singing for the Brain project because we felt like we weren’t doing enough and that has led us on this journey to try to find other ways of helping people with dementia.

“We found out that people with dementia tend to look at signs and can’t read them unless it is a yellow background with black writing.

“So every door in the church has a sign now that is dementia friendly.

“We looked at the disabled toilet which is now a coral pink colour because you can see that better. It’s made me think about how in worship, you can facilitate things better.

“We have screens so that the hymns are beamed up. Also trying to keep things fairly similar every week - a similar liturgy, simple hymns.

“They know the old hymns and I think the church can play a role through music.

“They seem to respond to that quite well.

“A lot of the funerals, I’m finding, the next of kin are people who have dementia.

“Every case is different. I made sure I did a placement as a hospital chaplain and part of that was dealing with people with neurological conditions and diseases like dementia.

“It terrified me because there is a history of it in my family and I didn’t know how to deal with people with dementia. There is a time bomb coming.

“I think it’s important to always wear a dog collar when I’m out visiting people with dementia because although they might now know who you are, they recognise the uniform.”

Angela Paton is the Resource Manager at Stobhill Care Home, which is involved in the project.

She said: “They really love it.

“When they come back they are uplifted and so full of joy.”

Springburn Church is looking for volunteer drivers to help with activities. To volunteer, contact the church on 0141 557 3668.

If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article call Alzheimer Scotland’s 24 Hour Helpline on 0808 808 3000 or visit the website at www.alzscot.org