Young spirit: residents of a London senior center re-create covers of Bowie, Adele and Queen

Vera, 93, poses with her head cocked to the side like Adele on the cover of her album 21 . Roma Cohen dares with Bowie's legendary lightning bolt in  Aladdin Sane, while some of the caretakers of the residence look challenging to the camera, such as the cover of the Queen II album . The covers of the most famous albums by Bruce Springsteen, Taylor Swift, Michael Jackson or David Bowie have served as inspiration for a photographic project in a London nursing home during confinement.

Sydmar Lodge Care Home residents and carers have been recreating classic album covers. The home has now been in lockdown for 4 months. pic.twitter.com/XS5YQ4f1Sw

Robert Speker is the Activity Coordinator for Sydmar Lodge, located in Edgware, North London. It was he who decided to organize this activity and who published the series of 12 photos on his Twitter and Facebook accounts on July 10. In three days, it has become popular with more than 40,000 retweets.

It all started as an initiative to keep the older people of the center busy and soon became a vindication of maintaining a young spirit in advanced ages. Given the impact they have had, Speker has launched a fundraiser on GoFundMe. On this platform, it indicates that residents have spent more than four months without carrying out activities with external entertainers or receiving visits from family members. The Sun newspaper collected the statements of the promoter of the project where he stressed that his job is to keep the residents entertained: “I thought they would have fun doing this. They are always quite willing to do something different. "

Robert Speker explains on his Twitter account that one of the most moving photographs was that of Sheila Solomons (93 years old), who imitates the cover of Human , by Rag 'n' Bone Man. The model is a big fan of the artist and even She was able to meet him before confinement, when he signed the same album that she recreates. Sheila, protagonist of three of the tributes, explained in the BBC Breakfast morning program that "the main objective (of the initiative) was to show that the residences do not have to be a sad environment, even during this pandemic."

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The series of photos has generated more than 150,000 reactions on Twitter, most of them messages of admiration and thanks. "My grandmother is 93 years old and often says that she looks in the mirror and asks" who is that old woman? " She still thinks of herself as being 20 years old, ”recalled one user. The niece of one of the models wrote that she loved the initiative even before she realized that her aunt Roma was characterized as Bowie. Others have proposed that the author make a calendar with the images to raise funds for the residency. 

This was beautiful before I spotted my Auntie Roma as Bowie !! Sensational. I hope her son has seen it. I'll show him now. Thank you

The coordinator highlights in the comments of the thread that was in charge of the whole process, from makeup and temporary tattoos to photography and editing of the results. Julia Davey, manager of the residence, has also helped in this project, and explained this Monday, July 13 in an interview in The Independent newspaper that Speker is known for doing unusual activities. For example, she also published some photographs of residents claiming equal wages for 8M. He also made a video of the elders participating in the #ToiletRollChallenge to encourage people to stay home during confinement.

In the United Kingdom, as has happened in countries like Spain, nursing homes have been one of the places where the most victims have left the covid-19. With more than 190,000 confirmed cases across the country, nearly a third occurred in nursing homes, according to BBC News. As in other parts of the world, the elderly of the Anglo-Saxon country have suffered indirect consequences of this isolation, such as confusion or loneliness. Although the city of Leicester had to return to confinement at the end of June, since July 4 the country has relaxed conditions and some businesses have begun to open to recover the economy.

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