A sweet video shows 82-year-old Maurice Smith, who has dementia, having a good singalong in the car to ‘Singing in the Rain’.
Maurice used to sing professionally in dance bands in the 1950s and 60s, but stopped when he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s five years ago.
His support worker, Diane Vose, encouraged him to sing in the car, and she was stunned to find Maurice’s voice was still as amazing as ever.
Diane got Maurice, from Warminster, Wiltshire, involved in a local Alzheimer’s Society charity’s ‘Music For The Mind’ singing therapy sessions.
And now Maurice becomes a one-man dementia band once a week in the car on the way to the sessions.
An adorable video filmed in Diane’s car shows Maurice beaming as he belts out the Gene Kelly’s ‘Singing In The Rain’.
Diane, from Wiltshire-based charity Alzheimer’s Support, said: ‘I spend time with Maurice every week to give his wife Ann a well-earned rest. For the first few weeks we chatted a lot about football.
‘Then one day I had the radio on and he just started singing. I couldn’t believe what a wonderful voice he had.
‘I thought he would enjoy going to one of the charity’s Music for the Mind singing groups and there is one that meets on a Wednesday when I see Maurice.
‘They were blown away by Maurice. Now we go every week and we always sing in the car on the way there.
‘He still has an amazing voice and he is so happy when he is singing. I think it has really helped him. I love supporting Maurice and I love my job.’
Alzheimer’s Support runs seven Music for the Mind dementia choirs across Wiltshire.
This summer Maurice and his fellow Music for the Mind singers will be putting on a special concert to help raise funds for the charity – and we know he’ll absolutely kill it.
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