Sunshine TV: New online show aimed at older people
By Hayden Moore
A new online show aimed at older people, called Sunshine TV, has been making waves in nursing homes across the country and they’re gearing up for the recording of a Christmas variety show in Orlagh House this month.
Sunshine TV, which produces two half-hour shows every week which are then played in over a dozen nursing homes via digital links, is the brainchild of Knocklyon woman Gina McCormack.
Gina presenting from Blessington Lakes
Gina came up with the idea of creating an original show aimed at older people when the pandemic first started, hoping that it might help to quell the isolation that nursing home residents may have been feeling at the time, and as an escape from rolling news about the pandemic.
Gina told The Echo: “I needed to get back to working, and I thought that developing Sunshine TV would be a worthwhile thing to do.
“It’s bringing the outside in to people who are vulnerable and can’t go outside.”
Sunshine TV was launched in early September, and has been going from strength to strength since then.
Each show is different, and features entertainers like singers and dancers, while Neil Elworthy provides engaging segments from places of interest all over the country, and Gina hosts the show.
“We’re getting great feedback from the nursing homes,” said Gina. “We’ve been told that the residents settle down to watch Sunshine TV and that it’s a real treat for them.
“It has a great structure to it – there’s singing, dancing, storytelling and poetry, and Neil Elworthy goes out and about interviewing people around the country.
“We’ve received poems, paintings and artwork from residents who’ve watched the show, and we show them on the next show and send them out Sunshine TV mugs and t-shirts, so it’s an interactive experience for them. We also do birthday shout-outs on the show.”
Buoyed with the success of Sunshine TV, which over a dozen nursing homes have so far purchased subscriptions for, Gina is now looking ahead to the recording of an hour-long Christmas variety show in Orlagh House this month.
“We’re planning to have a greeting from Santa himself,” added Gina, “and everything on it will be handpicked for seniors.
“There’s no way of having entertainment brought in to them at the minute, so this will give them an Irish-made, carefully selected variety show to watch instead.”
Gina added that if anyone wants to purchase a Sunshine TV subscription for an individual then discounted rates are available by contacting her at sunshinetvireland@gmail.com.
Further information is also available on the Sunshine TV Twitter page @SunshineTVIrl.
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