Chingford care home’s ‘An Evening With…’ celebrates Hilary’s life on the stage

Care home celebrates Hilary’s theatrical past with a joyful tribute night

A special evening to celebrate the am dram career of Chingford care home resident, Hilary Waker, brought back treasured memories and ‘joy’ for the 78-year-old.

Former amateur dramatics actress Hilary always had a flare for performing and found a passion for the theatre when she joined the Hornsey Operatic and Dramatic Society.

Hilary has been a resident at The Spinney Care Home, located on Forest View, since June last year. On discovering her love of theatre, the care home team encouraged Hilary to share her many treasured memories with her fellow residents.

The lifestyle team organised a special ‘An Evening with…Hilary Waker’ event where they displayed her old photographs, show programmes, and a few of her old costumes and wigs.

Hilary said: “It was so much fun! It was a joy to look through all of my old photos and costumes.”

The Spinney provides residential, specialist dementia, and end of life care. Samantha Carey, lifestyle coordinator at The Spinney, said: “Although Hilary is living with dementia and struggles with memory loss, she remembers her life on the stage.

“She loved showing everyone her collection of old photos from her time in the theatre, and it triggered lots of fond memories for her.

“We have two students on placement with us at the moment from Waltham Forest College and Hilary had such fun encouraging the two girls to try on her old wigs and costumes.”

In her younger days, Hilary lived in London with her husband John, where she worked as an estate agent, letting properties in Mayfair. She and John started their own business, arranging inventory surveys which took place before and after the letting of Mayfair properties.

During her time as a member of the Hornsey Operatic and Dramatic Society, Hilary took part in many productions including Carousel, Mikado and Fiddler on the Roof, and made many lifelong friends.

Later, when Hilary moved to Devon, she would write, produce, and star in pantomimes to help raise funds for her local church.

Sam continued: “Within Hilary’s memorabilia we discovered a DVD recording of Sleeping Beauty, a pantomime which Hilary helped to produce and also starred in.

“It was marvellous to see Hilary in her element on stage, she obviously loved performing! She still has her costume from that performance and tried it on for us.

“Hilary has never lost her love of performing! She loves it when there’s a show at the home or a party with a performer and will always get up and have a dance. Hilary remains very creative – she made a lot of her costumes herself – and loves taking part in our arts and crafts sessions.”

The Spinney is rated ‘Good’ by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and won a Great British Care Award in 2023 for ‘Dignity in Care’.

Lisa Wright, home manager at The Spinney, added: “Getting to know our residents and discovering their wonderful life experiences is honestly one of the best parts of our job! For those residents living with dementia, it allows us to support them to retain their sense of who they are and what they love.

“It’s our aim to create wonderful new memories for our residents. The afternoon was a real trip down memory lane for Hilary and we love that getting to share her passion for the theatre has sparked such joy for her.”