And Bristol Charities, the charity focusing on older people’s issues, which runs the Beehive Day Centre in Whitehall, believes the music therapy sessions and other unconventional activities on offer are the way forward for the development of day services across the city.

Each Monday, the day centre’s clients attend a music therapy session in which they have the chance to take part in and experience creative music-making using a wide range of instruments including drums, glockenspiels, percussion and keyboards.

The sessions are run by music therapist Nick Hayman and they aim to encourage the clients to develop their creativity skills as they use the musical instruments to improvise pieces as well as play well-known songs.

Music therapy is a well-established method of helping people to relate to others and express feelings and emotions that they may have difficulty expressing using words alone.

David Jones, chief executive of Bristol Charities said: “We strongly believe that this sort of activity represents the future of day services for older people. The new sessions are incredibly popular and already the staff at the day centre have commented on how the music therapy is giving them opportunities to talk to the clients about difficult or emotional areas of their lives.”

Nick Hayman added: “In addition to being entertaining and fun, this kind of musical stimulation is exceptionally good for people who might be experiencing age-related difficulties such as loss of physical ability, depression, loss of memory and dementia and other physical and mental health issues.”

The Beehive Centre in Stretford Road, Whitehall, currently provides a range of day services for up to 120 older people four days a week. The new music therapy sessions are just one of a host of unusual and entertaining activities on offer.