Spitz Stories

Tales and anecdotes from our mission to spread #LiveMusicForWellbeing.

Names of residents have been abbreviated to ensure their anonymity.

All Posts

Fantastic, amazing, lovely, special, extraordinary

Thom Rowlands

Jan 7
2 min

Fantastic, amazing, lovely, special, extraordinary

A crazy Paganini jam!

Thom Rowlands

Jan 6
1 min

"Some jazz today I think!"

JC (resident) is usually a rock 'n' roller through and through...

Alice Zawadzki

Dec 29, 2020
6 min

"We should've had the mics rolling!"

It was a particularly cold snap at the end of December when I arrived at Bridgeside Lodge...

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Thom Rowlands

Dec 17, 2020
1 min

Locked down to party all night

We were asked by Islington CCG to create a fun and festive video celebrating the care homes of Islington Borough.

Kate Millett

Dec 16, 2020
3 min

BSL & Spitz Christmas Party

“I love every Christmas song. They make me feel like a girl again. I feel all warm inside now.”

Thom Rowlands

Dec 14, 2020
1 min

Piano lesson no.2

She's a natural

Thom Rowlands

Dec 12, 2020
2 min

“We’ll give you a hug through music.”

It was with a sense of determined responsibility that we made our way around...

"Music is a necessity, it's keeping us alive"

Kate Millett

Dec 11, 2020
2 min

"Music is a necessity, it's keeping us alive"

Making music seemed to be exactly what the staff and residents at BSL needed on Friday.

Kate Millett

Dec 4, 2020
3 min

"That's a big fiddle!"

Although the second lockdown has been lifted and Christmas is around the corner, there was a sense of real sadness at BSL today...

Thom Rowlands

Dec 3, 2020
3 min

"You can feel the good vibrations"

The gloom of a miserable Thursday morning was soon blown away as Alice Zawadzki’s jazzy tones filled the dining room of the second floor of

Thom Rowlands

Nov 27, 2020
2 min

Chicken & egg

“è troppo grande!" Said C, a recent arrival at Bridgeside Lodge, in her native Italian. “It’s too big!”

Kate Millett & Thom Rowlands

Nov 26, 2020
3 min

Mic check...1, 2, 1, 2...

Today the dream took a momentous leap forward as we spent the day at a recording studio in Marylebone, laying down guitars, keys and vocals

Kate Millett

Nov 23, 2020
1 min

Piano lesson no.1

“I’m nervous, but I’m also so excited!”

Kate Millett

Nov 16, 2020
2 min

"What an instrument, what a player!"

With the confirmation of our negative Covid test, we were able go into BSL in teams of two, visit the residents and staff, and lift some ...

Kate Millett

Nov 13, 2020
2 min

Joining forces

It's been a busy week for The Spitz! After our Covid tests on Monday, we sat in the garden with musicians Laurence Corns and Ben Hazleton...

Kate Millett

Nov 5, 2020
2 min

Remember, remember

Despite the start of the second lockdown, Bridgeside Lodge were determined not to cancel their annual fireworks evening.

Kate Millett

Nov 4, 2020
2 min

Back inside Bridgeside

After securing the necessary permissions and undergoing rigorous Health and Safety training at Bridgeside Lodge, The Spitz were finally a...

Kate Millett

Oct 28, 2020
1 min

"We're in this together!"

We were pleasantly surprised by how lovely the weather was when we arrived at Bridgeside Lodge on Wednesday.

Covid robbed care homes of their entertainment

Ursula Sagar

Oct 19, 2020
2 min

Covid robbed care homes of their entertainment

A BBC article came out last week about the plight of those in care homes whose vital sources of entertainment and enjoyment, including music

Kate Millett

Oct 13, 2020
2 min

“I miss having people around me"

She said that since he arrived at BSL a few days ago he had been very distressed and nothing would soothe him, until now!

"This is a song about medication. I gather a lot of that goes on here!"

Ursula Sagar

Oct 6, 2020
2 min

"This is a song about medication. I gather a lot of that goes on here!"

G told Laurence after the set what a special thing it is to have us here.

Kate Millett

Sep 30, 2020
2 min

“We’re just so happy to be gigging!”

While she sang Hotel California to him we noticed a transformation. He was suddenly smiling and looking around at us all.

Ursula Sagar & Kate Millett

Sep 23, 2020
3 min

National Arts in Care Homes Day

Breaking from our regular Wednesday afternoon schedule, we kicked off at 11a.m. with the first of our two live acts,

They were enthusiastically shouting “more jazz!”

Ursula Sagar

Sep 15, 2020
2 min

They were enthusiastically shouting “more jazz!”

The Spitz team arrived today to a perfect day for outdoor music-making – gloriously blue and warm but not too hot to keep the residents insi

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