Meet the young actress bringing Mary Poppins joy to care home residents

A young actress from Maghull is bringing the joy of musicals to care home residents by performing as Mary Poppins.

20-year-old Lucy Wareing did her first show as Mary Poppins last summer after a suggestion from her boyfriend’s mum who works at a care home in Maghull. The elderly residents sang along to the film’s famous tunes and enjoyed it so much that Lucy’s inbox has been full ever since with requests for an encore from homes across Merseyside and Lancashire.

Now she’s added two further sets – a 50s, 60s, and 70s hits medley and a 40s wartime one – taking requests and interacting with her audience, many of whom have dementia.

Lucy says it’s taken off more than she could ever have expected.

She said:

“I get so many messages every day which is an absolute privilege. It might sound silly to some people but for me it is an honour to be able to perform for these people who’ve lived such incredible lives, and the things that they’ve lived through, so I think it’s fantastic.”

Lucy started working in TV and film when she was 16 and landed her first professional TV credit on BBC’s Doctors last year.

But she’s always performed in pubs and for weddings and other events alongside her acting.

“I’d been doing quite well, but as most actors do I needed another job in between auditions and parts. My boyfriend’s mum works in Parkhaven and she’d seen photos of me as Mary Poppins when I did it in my last year at Maricourt.

“She thought the residents might like it, so I got in touch with the activities coordinator and did my first performance there which was really exciting and they absolutely loved it.

“It’s something that’s from their childhood or early adulthood and it’s lovely to see their faces light up when I start singing.

“Especially with dementia patients, where they can be quite confused, they don’t always understand at first why there’s someone new in the building that they don’t recognise. But then as soon as I put the music on it completely changes because it takes them somewhere else and it’s just a joy for me to be able to do that for them.

“For some it can be the first time they’ve interacted with music and when that happens it’s really special for me.”

Lucy says she loves spending time with the residents and gets just as much out of her visits as they do:

“They love to have a chat and a lot of them are genuinely hilarious, they love to tell me jokes.

“A couple of days ago I got pranked by one of the elderly gentlemen, who’s 96. I went in and said, ‘nice to meet, you I’m Mary Poppins’ and he said, ‘I’m Ned, Ned Kelly.’ I didn’t know who that was so he just kept it up for the entire session. It was only at the end the staff told me his name is Eric, he was just fooling me the whole time for a laugh!”

Since her care home bookings started coming in thick and fast, Lucy’s been able to plan her own schedule, fitting in auditions and parts around visits.

“Now to be doing something I love and also having the flexibility to go for other acting jobs is just the dream really.”

And she’s never short of help with creating her sets thanks to her nan Judith who lives nearby in Bootle.

“We’re really close so I go to her house and we sit and have a cup of tea while she helps me choose the songs. She’s been a massive part of this and it gives me an excuse to go over and see her.

“She knows what her parents used to listen to, she was the one who came up with the idea to do the 1940s set. She still messages me every day with new song ideas and I’ll do a trial for her, so she’s basically the mastermind behind it all. I’ve been calling her the nan-ager!”