Two events – one aim – to show what we CAN do……

Today I’m promoting two up and coming happenings. One in York and the other in Sheffield – sorry those further afield !

I’ll put them order of date……the first being Sheffield….

David Reid, senior teacher in the school of nursing and midwifery at Sheffield University, has for the last 11th years run the South Yorkshire Dementia Creative Arts Exhibition.

This year on Tuesday the 2nd July, me and many of my playmates will be showing what we CAN do as part of a Mentioning Dementia day……

I’ll be reading a piece from my book, some will be reading poetry and me and playmates Howard Gordon and Jacqui Bingham will be doing a Dementia Diaries Live session where we’ll read diary entries from other playmates.

It should be a wonderful day and is FREE to attend. I’d love to meet anyone in that area.

To register and get more detail click on the link below

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mentioning-dementia-a-national-spoken-word-event-tickets-62679707693

The second exciting news, if that Minds and Voices will be running our second course –
A Good Life with Dementia – designed and delivered by me and my playmates with the support of Damián Murphy.

We had asked the local memory clinic to refer people but once again, they’ve let us down by simply giving out a telephone number and expecting people to ring Damian……😔…..if I’d just been diagnosed, I would want help and direction and not be expected to ring a total stranger. I’d want to have them telling me it might help and give it a go. Imagine how overwhelmed you feel anyway. You’re looking to the so called experts to show you what might be useful……Such a shame……

So here we are again having to try and recruit people ourselves….

Soooo if you live within the city of York we would welcome you and provide transport if needed. If you live further out and are interested, we would still welcome you but you would need to provide your own transport. Any age.

Supporters are welcome to come, in the knowledge that we do focus on people with a diagnosis.

The course is for 6 weeks…….with courses, my first question is always, so what happens on week 7 or the week after the course has finished…..and we have the advantage of offering people the opportunity to join Minds and Voices, should they wish, therefore providing some continuity of support after the course.

Week 1 starts on Tuesday 30th July. During the 6 weeks we include, hearing your story and answering any questions, the facts about dementia, Adapting and Accepting, pros and cons of living alone and in a couple, driving, speech, other people’s attitudes, where to get help including entitlements and welfare rights.

All the practical and emotional support that’s often missing plus any other questions you may have!

So if you are or know anyone who might benefit from meeting with us for 6 weeks please put them in touch. It’s not really a ‘just turn up on the day’ as Damian would like the chance to meet you and explain about our course first.

You can contact me through my blog, and I’ll send on your details to Damian, or you can contact Damian direct by email on

dementiafriendly@outlook.com

Or by phone on

07927 405854 (hope I’ve got that right, let me know and find there’s a problem….)

We’d really love to see people there……😊