In honour of Sign to Sing Week and to raise awareness of the importance of sign language, residents across the 10 older person care homes of The Fremantle Trust took part in a Makaton sing-a-long of When You’re Smiling by Michael Bublé.

On receiving the lyrics and Makaton signing instructions, the residents and staff members were all too happy to practice their sign language and enjoy singing along to the well-loved Bublé cover. After a couple of practice rounds, snippets were filmed and compiled into a special video, which was shared across the homes of The Trust and to friends and family. 

Resident of Icknield Court Doris Hodge commented on how the song brought back memories of her learning sign language with her brothers Ted and Jack: “My brothers started going deaf in their early twenties, so I learnt to sign and can still remember some. We had such fun as others would not know what we saying!”

Community and Lifestyle Manager Sue Faulkner commented: “Residents and staff had great fun being involved in Sign to Sing week and they loved signing to a song so happy and upbeat. Learning something new is always a great way of keeping the brain alert, and when it is fun and for a purpose, such as raising awareness, it makes it all the more important.”