- National Dementia Action Week 13 - 19 May
- Series of activities and events planned across Tamworth
- Everyone welcome, no pre-booking required
For the seventh year running, Tamworth joins national Dementia Action Week with a series of events to raise awareness about dementia.
A packed week of events including coffee mornings, singing and dementia awareness sessions, is taking place in the town between Monday 13 May and Sunday 19 May.
Tamworth was granted Dementia Friendly Community status in 2018, for action in helping to improve the lives of local people living with dementia.
Activities are being organised and co-ordinated by the Tamworth Dementia Friendly Communities Partnership; a partnership of stakeholders working together to raise awareness and improve services locally. Tamworth Dementia Friendly Communities Partnership includes Tamworth Borough Council, the police, fire service, health care services and providers, community groups, businesses and local people with lived experience of dementia.
More than half of UK adults know someone who has been diagnosed with dementia. And the numbers of people with dementia continue to grow.
Dementia Action Week is an Alzheimer’s Society dementia awareness raising campaign, which encouraged people to act on dementia and understand the importance of early diagnosis.
The various events aim to either support people living with dementia, to help others understand what it is like for those living with the condition, or to raise money for vital equipment and services.
The week of events begins on Monday 13 May with a dementia awareness stall in Ankerside between 10am and 2pm. There will be a Dementia UK volunteer ambassador on hand to answer any questions.
On Tuesday 14 May, the Memory Café at Sacred Heart Church, off Silver Link Road, will host a memory café where people can come and gather information and seek advice and support. The session runs from 10.30am-12.30pm. If you know someone living with dementia or memory loss, come along, no pre-booking is necessary.
There will also be another stall in Ankerside between 10am and 2pm on Tuesday 14 May with a volunteer ambassador and Dementia Advisor there to answer any questions.
A dementia awareness raising stall will be available in Ankerside on Wednesday 15 and Thursday 16, from 9.30am - 1pm and on Friday 17 from 10am – 2pm.You can come along and meet your Social Prescriber Link Worker.
The Alzheimer’s Society are running a stall in Morrisons on Wednesday 15, raising awareness of dementia and answering any questions. They will be in the main store at Wilnecote in the morning from 10.am – 1pm.
All are welcome to a Dementia Friendly Cuppa and Chat will also return on the Wednesday at 11am-1pm in the Helping Hands Café, 37 George Street.
Everyone is invited to the Singing for Fun session hosted on the Thursday at the Helping Hands Café from 10.30am – 11.30am.
The Time Out Club will be providing free taster sessions with fun activities for people living with dementia on Thursday 16 May at St. Peter’s Church and Community Centre, Hawksworth, Silver Link Road, from 1.30pm – 4.30pm.
Leaflets will be available to pick up from the dementia awareness raising stall which will be available on Friday 17 and Saturday 18 May in Ankerside.
Dementia awareness services will be held at the weekend at the following churches:
- St John the Baptist, St John Street, Tamworth, from 6pm on Saturday 18 May and from 10.30am on Sunday 19 May
- Sacred Heart Church from 9am and 12 noon on Sunday 19 May
Everyone is welcome to all the events and no pre-booking is required. Further details can be downloaded via the Dementia Friendly page of Tamworth Borough Council’s website at Dementia support | Tamworth Borough Council.
Tamworth Borough Council will also illuminate Tamworth Castle blue for the seven days of Dementia Action Week.
As an official Dementia Friendly Community, a lot of work has taken place in Tamworth to create a place in which people living with dementia, including carers, feel understood and supported, with access to the services they need.
This includes building an army of Dementia Friends - people who have undergone a short awareness session, to give them a basic understanding of dementia and some of the issues it can create for people living with it. According to latest figures, Tamworth has 5,755 Dementia Friends, and more than 850 Digital Friends.
Tamworth Library are also promoting Playlist for Life, to rediscover your loved one’s musical memories find out more at Tamworth Library or visit www.playlistforlife.org.uk.
Stephen Gabriel, Chief Executive of Tamworth Borough Council said: “Seeing a loved one slip away because of dementia is heartbreaking. As a dementia friendly town, there is a lot of local support for those with dementia and their families. By supporting Dementia Action Week we’re helping raise awareness of this condition and the support available in Tamworth.
“We encourage anyone with dementia or their families to come along to the events and activities to reach out for support.”
Becoming a Dementia Friend can be done online or in person and takes less than an hour. Visit www.dementiafriends.org.uk or contact Tamworth Borough Council’s lead officer for Dementia Friendly Communities, Karen Clancy, on 01827 709565.