FOLK singer Dafydd Iwan, who recently outsold superstars Stormzy and Lewis Capaldi to reach number one in the UK iTunes chart, is also a big hit with care home residents.

Dafydd always goes down a storm at the monthly gigs he stages at Pendine Park’s Bryn Seiont Newydd care home in Caernarfon which specialises in looking after people with dementia.

Experts say that music is one of the first things people learn and one of the last things they lose when their memory is destroyed by dementia.

One of the Bryn Seiont Newydd residents' favourite numbers is Yma o Hyd which is the song that catapulted Dafydd to unprecedented chart success..

It was originally released in 1983 before climbing to the top of the iTunes chart nearly 40 years later thanks to an online campaign inspired by a successful attempt in Ireland to get the Irish rebel song "Come out Ye Black and Tans" to the top of the chart.

Dafydd, who lives five minutes away from the care home, said: “Several different songs break through and lights up the memory for different reasons. I enjoy this experience.

“Someone explained to me that’s the last part of the brain to go, the bit that remember things like words of songs, and I find that very interesting.

“You will meet some people who are unable to have a conversation who will sing every word to a song, and that’s remarkable. I get a great deal of pleasure from sessions like this."

“It’s good that a place like Bryn Seiont Newydd exists for the residents.”

Bryn Seiont manager Sandra Evans: “We are very grateful to Dafydd because his gigs bring so much joy to our residents and their families.

“The arts in general and music in particular are central to daily life at all of Pendine Parks care homes and we are extremely fortunate to have a living legend right on our doorstep here in Caernarfon.”