For elderly people living in a care home, staying occupied is really important. That's why they're often faced with musicians in the lounge or the odd game of cribbage - does anyone under the age of 60 even play cribbage?
But one care home has raised the bar - or pole - when it comes to in-house entertainment, keeping its pensioners busy by hiring pole dancers - at the residents' request.
Fairmile Grange home in Christchurch, Dorset, has defended the move after local councilors deemed the entertainment 'inappropriate', with one of the performers as young as just ten years old.
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Izzy Nicholls, operations and quality director for Encore Care Homes, the business that runs Fairmile Grange, told Metro: "At Fairmile Grange, relatives and residents requested more modern-style activities.
"Residents were given several choices of activity and specifically chose for a local pole dancing company to perform."
Despite the furore surrounding the entertainment, Nicholls didn't seem too fussed, saying that Encore Care Homes is 'proud to challenge stereotypes'.
She added that the business will continue to offer its residents the chance to experience 'appropriate, new and progressive' activities.
Councillors on Christchurch Borough Council were less impressed with the move, saying that pole dancers were an 'inappropriate' form of entertainment for a care home.
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They said they were 'staggered' by the decision to invite the pole dancers and expressed doubts that it was what the residents really wanted.
Councillor Peter Hall said: "It's not really the sort of entertainment I would have thought that the residents wanted or would have encouraged."
Councillor Denise Jones added: "I'm a bit staggered about it. While I'm always delighted to see the horizons of older people widened, I'm not sure that includes pole dancing."
Katie Henry, owner of the business hired to entertain the care home - Pole Dance Factory in Poole - also stood her ground, saying that her dancers were just offering residents 'another form of entertainment'.
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Henry confirmed that the care home had asked for 'something a bit different' but the company had taken into account the residents' age in its performance.
"There are different styles of pole dancing, but the style performed at Fairmile Grange was gymnastic and to music with a 1950s and '60s theme," Henry said.
"Pole dancing is a very popular sport which gives participants confidence and does not discriminate against anyone."
A spokesperson for Dorset County Council - responsible for overseeing care homes in the region - said they were unaware of any complaints about the care home.
Featured Image Credit: Pole Dance Factory Poole