Care home's heartwarming video that went viral makes bid to win Care Home Idol

When 86-year-old Northumberland care home resident, Pat was feeling a bit down and restless one evening at Wansbeck Care Home, a care worker stepped in to help cheer her up.

One short 30-second video clip of the two singing and dancing was later posted to the care home’s Facebook page and went viral after it was shared by one of the lady’s family members.

The video shows care assistant Lee Holdroyd and resident Pat dancing and singing along to the Monkees song 'Daydream Believer' and has been viewed more than 340,000 times, with the story featuring on TV and appearing in national newspapers across the UK.

Following its success, the Northumberland care home has decided to enter the dancing duo into carehome.co.uk’s annual Care Home Idol competition, putting themselves in the running for a trophy and a cash prize.

Explaining how the video came about, manager of Wansbeck Care Home Denise Hyden said: “We set up the Wansbeck Care Home Facebook page for relatives who live away and aren’t able to visit their loved ones as much as they’d like.

'Activities should be a rolling thing'

“As the manager, I said to our activities coordinator, Allana Smith, that I don’t think activities in care homes should stop when day staff go home. So I told senior staff at the home that for my evidence and for the families I want to see what else is going on through the night, whatever activities they get up, whether it's singing or dancing or a movie night with residents.

"I wanted them to start to document what they were doing and take some photos and send them directly to me, so I could look at them and scrutinise them, to see which can go onto the website and which can’t.

“The video was made one night when Lee went upstairs to our ‘Cupcake Café’ which is a little diner we’ve set up on-site and Pat was up there. She absolutely loves music, loves singing and she’s the life and soul of the party. Pat was just sat in there by herself and she didn’t want to go to bed yet so Lee turned on some music and the music brought Pat back to her normal self and the moment of them singing and dancing was captured by another member of staff.”

Pat is 86 and has been living at Wansbeck Care Home for nearly three years after a diagnosis of dementia led to her being unable to continue living at home.

Care assistant Lee Holdroyd, Pat’s dancing and singing partner in the video, has been working at Wansbeck Care Home for a year.

Mr Holdroyd decided to pursue a career in social care after helping his mother Sue Holdroyd to care for his grandmother when she was dying with cancer.

Speaking about the success of the video in the Daily Mail, Mr Holdroyd commented: “It's really unlike Pat to get quiet and down as she's normally the life and soul of the place so I made her a cup of tea but that didn't help.

“They say music is medicine for the soul and dancing is the best kind of distraction so I just thought, why not?'

“She absolutely loves a song and dance so I put on the Monkees and got her up. It worked a charm - she was right as rain in no time.

“I really enjoy looking after people and want to make a difference to their lives and create special experiences for them in all sorts of small ways.”

Family reunions

The viral success of the video has led to Pat being reunited with her brother Ron who she has not seen in almost 70 years after he emigrated to Canada after the Second World War.

The video also inspired Mr Holdroyd’s own brother to get back in touch with him after they had fallen out some years before.

Mr Holdroyd explained: “We had a big falling out years ago and we've not spoken since. But when John saw the video of me and Pat dancing he sent me a message saying ‘I'm proud of you’. It meant so much.

“Now we're fully back in touch and we're even planning to meet up and go to the pub for a drink. It's incredible.

“I didn't think anything of having a dance with Pat at the time but actually this video is so powerful it's brought two families back together."

Commenting on the video’s success and the reaction, Ms Hyden said: “It just went absolutely ballistic. We’re only doing our job, as all staff do and the page is full of our staff doing beautiful things with residents, day in and day out, and it was just something that captured the family and they wanted to share it.

“Pat loves singing and music is her life. Though Pat herself doesn’t have a background in music, her brother used to be in a band and would go round singing harmonies and her family have said that she has always loved music.

“It was just something that was picked up and has touched everybody’s hearts. I’m from a care background myself and I know how hard my care staff work, and my passion has always been to ensure that residents have a good sense of well-being are able to achieve their dreams and we’ve brought those ideas down to all the staff here.”

Lee’s hard work has been praised by thousands with the video catching the eye of ITV’s This Morning, which led to a live appearance on the programme which was broadcast from the care home and led to them rewarding him with a week’s holiday in the Caribbean and spending money.

For care homes wishing to enter Care Home Idol, there is more information here.

click here for more details or to contact Wansbeck Care Home