Sir Alex Ferguson has backed a Scottish music and dementia charity by making a six figure donation to help their mission to bring music into mainstream treatment for the disease.
The former Manchester United, Aberdeen and St Mirren boss has given £100,000 boost to Playlist for Life, the charity founded by broadcaster Sally Magnusson to help people living with dementia and their loved ones access memories.
Sir Alex has personal experience of the illness which his brother is living with, and hailed the transformative effect of introducing Playlist for Life’s model for music therapy.
He said: “We all know someone whose life has been touched by dementia. I have seen the impact it can have in my own family and I know the challenges it can bring.
“But I also know that music is one of the best things available that can help. That’s why I back Playlist for Life and its mission to have music in dementia care and support as standard.
“The charity is transforming the lives of people affected by dementia across the UK using personally meaningful music. The songs that matter to us make up the soundtrack of our lives and for people living with dementia, that soundtrack can bring back treasured memories, reduce symptoms and help people reconnect.
“It’s a simple thing to do, but for someone affected by dementia, it can make a world of difference.”
The Govan-born former manager made the donation via The Elizabeth Hardie Ferguson CharitableTrust Fund, which was founded in memory of his mother.
Playlist for Life holds its annual National Playlist Day today, encouraging people to think about the soundtrack to their life and create a personal playlist for themselves or a loved one, which could become a valuable resource in the future.
Founder Sally Magnusson said Sir Alex’s donation is a high point for the charity she founded 13 years ago, after caring for her mother Mamie during her final years living with dementia.
She said: “It’s a marvelously generous gesture from Sir Alex, who has taken what we do on as something he believes in personally, not just as something that is being asked of him. He embraces the idea of music being of benefit to people with dementia, and people at earlier stages of that process.
“It’s now understood that music can help from the very beginning and he gets that because he has personal experience of dementia with his brother.”
She added: “To be given such a significant donation at a time when every charity is aware of how difficult it is to get funding is a real high point for us as a charity.”
It’s a long way from her initial lightbulb moment when she and her family used music to elicit memories for her mum, a journey she documented in her best-selling memoir Where Memories Go.
She said: “I just wanted to get the simple message out there for families like mine in the grip of this dreadful disease, that there was a resource that could make people feel more connected to each other and themselves even when there was little that could be done medically.
“That was all I had in sight and to look back now and see how that has taken root and been taken forward by others is something I feel very proud and humbled by.”
Backed by over two decades of scientific research,the charity’s work in supporting people affected by dementia has shown that for a person with dementia, listening to a collection of personally meaningful songs can help reduce distressing symptoms, create connections between loved ones and carers and overall, improve quality of life.
An NHS Fife team trained by Playlist for Life found that 80% of participants required less medication to manage stress and distress after using personal playlists. An 8-week trial of 28 dementia patients on NHS Fife A&E wards showed 96% of patients displaying stress and agitation became markedly less stressed during clinical procedures after using personal music systems.
Sally hopes medical practice around treatment of dementia continues towards wider inclusion of music as a therapy.
She said: “At one care home in Kirkintilloch, the GP practice saw the immense benefit within the care home and began prescribing music before they prescribed a sedative.
“They would say ‘give them their music’ and that reduced the prescription of sedatives drugs hugely. If that could be replicated everywhere, my goodness, what a difference.”
Chief Executive Michael Timmons acknowledged the impact Fergie’s funding will have on the charity, which has trained 13,000 health and social care professionals and students to use personal playlists in dementia care.
He said: “It’s a very difficult time for charity funding right across the sector, so this donation came at a vital time for the charity. Dementia is one of the biggest issues of our time and Playlist for Life can help families affected now.
“Playlist for Life is a charity built on partnerships within communities, and this donation will help us strengthen those partnerships and reach even more families affected by dementia.
“The funding will support our work to connect with people at the earliest possible stage in their dementia journey. We will do this through our network of community partners and by working more closely with GP surgeries.
“By sharing his own playlist and the memories it evokes, Sir Alex has shown how simple it is to get started, and how powerful personal music can be.”