Pioneering arts training at Pendine Park is a UK first

At Pendine Park we have developed a pioneering training course thanks to a musical collaboration with one of the world's top orchestras.

All members of staff at here Pendine Park are being trained to use the arts as a way of improving the quality of life for the residents of their seven care homes.

The partnership with the Hallé was facilitated by Arts and Business Cymru, who bring the worlds of arts and business together.

Our Artist in Residence, Sarah Edwards, is passionate about the value of the work with the Hallé and the new qualification which is the first of its kind in the UK.

The arts will also play a big role at Pendine Park's new £7 million centre of excellence for dementia care that's being built on the site of the former Bryn Seiont community hospital on the outskirts of Caernarfon.

The aim is to trial it as an in-house course for staff with a view to developing it into a nationally recognised qualification that could be rolled out across Wales.

Sarah said: "We were absolutely blown away to have the opportunity to work with the Hallé and we really wanted to build on that and embed music and the arts into the lives of all the patients and staff at Pendine Park.

"Music can bring out a range of emotions in people – laughter, tears, happiness, joy.

"It takes people's mind off their everyday problems. For that moment in time they're free to express themselves, to enjoy themselves, and to just have a good time - it's priceless.

"We're training the staff as part of our Enrichment Programme to deliver their own versions of music workshops.

"They bring a lot of laughter and fun to the proceedings and they get the residents up and singing which is just what we want really.

"It's a core aspect of training and the arts play a vital part in our Enrichment Programme and music is one of the main focuses.

"It will be part of the pre-diploma training and there'll be toolkits for each aspect of the arts and they will help to embed the arts in the training of the staff so that they can deliver a version of it themselves. They can buy into it and the good that it does to our residents and our staff.

"Our approach is unique and is attracting a great deal of interest from across the UK.

"We have developed the Enrichment Programme in arts awareness in conjunction with our in-house training arm, Smartcare Training."