TUCKED inside a maze of corridors near the hospice offices is a room where memories are discovered and made through melody.

Music therapy is among the creative art sessions offered at Sobell, providing patients with the chance to make their own song or listen to old favourites.

The room is crammed with instruments inspired by cultures across the world, from exotic sitars and conga drums to more familiar fiddles and tambourines.

Tom Crook, who has been Sobell's music therapist for two years, was a musician and published songwriter before he trained to work in the care sector.

He said: "We are all musical beings, we all respond to music and it can evoke lots of emotional memories. It's a part of who we are. Everyone has a song they remember from their wedding or childhood.

"It's an overwhelming thing to come into a hospice and sometimes it's hard to find the words. Music is another language – people can explore those feelings."

He sits down with patients and discusses their lives and relationship to music, and can help them pen lyrics and create tunes using their favourite notes and instruments.

He said: "A song can be a safe container for those emotions. Songs that people write themselves here can be a great way to say 'I was here'.

"There's a lot of research that suggests that with Alzheimer's and dementia, music is one of the last memories to go."

Mr Crook said many patients wrote about happy times in their lives. He recalled one man who wrote a poem about his mother and how she met his father.

He said: "He wanted to play the tambourine and was sat here with his oxygen mask on – he just wanted to have his voice heard."

Another patient, who was in the Navy as a young man, wrote a song to reflect his time working nights on the 'dog watch'.

Mr Crook said: "He told me how they would have to pull up the anchor and someone would play the fiddle and sing sea shanties. I grabbed a guitar and joined him and started playing. It was about safe anchorage and through that he was able to address his own death.

"He wasn't well enough to sing but he read it out. You could start to hear his voice crack. There is lots of life review work and acceptance of what's happening."

He said family members often take a copy of the song to remember their loved one after death, to play at their funeral or remind them of the sound of their voice.