It’s our 7^th Birthday next week! We’re delighted that storyteller Michael Loader is hosting an interactive Birthday celebration session on Friday 10^th July at 2pm. All welcome. If you would like to join Michael please let us know by email (office@bdaa.org.uk) and we will send you the Zoom details.

We’ve decided to wait until our AGM/Celebration event in the autumn to have a proper birthday party. We hope that we’ll be able to meet in person by then and truly celebrate the amazing work BDAA and many others are doing to make Bristol a Dementia Friendly City.

“Listening event for Older People: Your views on healthcare during coronavirus. 14^th July 11-12.30

What are your experiences of accessing and using healthcare services during lockdown and the coronavirus outbreak?

Coronavirus has meant that we have made many changes to healthcare services, such as using more technology and telephone appointments, and prioritising certain services. We would like to learn more about how these changes have been received, what has worked well and where we could improve.

Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group is holding a listening event on Zoom for people aged 55 and over to find out your views on how healthcare has changed”

Please share with your networks. There are 50 places available which can be booked via the Eventbrite link below:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/listening-event-for-older-people-your-views-on-healthcare-during-covid-19-tickets-110969986216

If the event reaches capacity, the next 10 people who register interest can go on to a waiting list and will be contacted if a space opens up. *Please note that if you are planning to join the event as a facilitator or speak you do not need to register via Eventbrite.

All further information is included within Eventbrite invite. If you have any further questions, please email Evie Smithson evie.smithson@nhs.net

During lockdown, Barbara has become really clingy, probably as a result of all her activities having stopped, so I’ve ordered an Emilie doll to see if that will help. These were used at The Limes and loved.

BDAA is a Help Point for Playlists for Life. Here is a link to a short (less than 2 mins) video about how Playlist for Life can help you in making a personally meaningful playlist:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDtQyGATTEg&feature=emb_title

Visit Playlist for Life resources at https://www.playlistforlife.org.uk/resources/

Playlist for Life phone group: Soundtrack of Your Life

Mondays 2pm for up to an hour. Calls are free. For carers and a loved one with dementia, in a small group, to explore and enjoy music that’s special to you. A sort of Desert Island Discs … To book places or to find out more, please contact Gill at Playlist for Life – email gill@playlistforlife or phone 07712 273 947 (Mondays to Thursdays)

Thanks to Helen at All Saints Church, Clifton for her informative email. She’s highlighted these events for your diary:
Bristol International Balloon Fiesta – The 2020 Fiesta
SS Great Britain – ’50 Years back home in Bristol’ – celebrating 50 years since the SS Great Britain returned home to Bristol; a new film plus links through to lots of other fascinating info about the ship.

If you’re looking after someone living with Dementia more than 4 hours a week please complete this survey

We thought we might offer some easy activities for everyone at our Memory Cafe as we’re still in lockdown to some extent.
So, for those of you who like poetry, (which seems to be most of you judging by when we had a poetry session at a recent Happy Days meeting), can you write a poem about lockdown?
It can be serious or humorous….have a go… please feel free to share your poems on the post on Facebook. We’re not judging them – this is for fun.

This is a very useful article by the Alzheimer’s Society about face masks. You can buy Hidden Disabilities masks or lanyards with exemption cards from https://hiddendisabilitiesstore.com/.

We’ve been informed about Jonathan Flower’s research at the University Of The West Of England. This is to help improve Bristol’s streets for everyone but in particular these groups of people.

• Mobility Scooter/Wheelchair Users
• The Visually Impaired
• Elderly People
• Parent/Carers that use a Buggy/Pram
• Young people that walk

Please see the information sheet and consent form that needs to be completed prior to the survey being sent out.

CASS is looking for language speakers to translate key health messages for communities – please see this email for further details.
Please do check out the CASS website which has many good resources including a Covid-19 Stress, Anxiety & Depression, and Grief Presentation, a coping with Grief booklet and mindfulness audio and a kind mindfulness audio.

Here is the first issue of a Covid-19 Information and Advice Newsletter produced jointly between Bristol Older People’s Forum and Bristol City Council. There will be two more issues to follow over the coming months.

The Mindful Life – Mindfulness For Carers – Free programmes are now being delivered online to support carers.  These are likely to be 4 or 5 one hour sessions delivered during August via Zoom.  The sessions are based on their one day retreat.

Their website gives an idea of who they are and what they do but the attached flyer gives the details of the free retreat for carers.  https://www.themindfullife.co.uk   

BRACE has just announced it’s annual Together 4 Dementia 2020 Conference will be online on November 3rd. Details on their website.

Alzhiemer’s Society is offering a weekly Memory cafe on Zoom every Thursday 3.30-4.30. For further details please contact Pete Conway on Peter.Conway@alzheimers.org.uk or 07872866502.

Do you listen to the Babbers show on Ujima Radio? Maybe you’ve caught a couple of shows, or perhaps you’ve never heard of it before?

Whether you are a regular listener or the complete opposite, Bristol Ageing Better would love to hear your views via this short survey: https://forms.gle/TG3ziaRDVUiWLFM56

All questions are optional and anonymous, so just pick the questions that are relevant for you.

If you have any questions about the survey or would like to give feedback over the phone instead, please contact Claire Chivers on 0117 928 1539 or clairechivers@ageukbristol.org.uk

The Purple Angel Campaign has been offering Free MP3 players to hospitals and care homes for some years now across the UK, because we all understand the power of music. (BDAA has provided some of these players in Bristol hospitals and some care homes). If a person with Dementia “kicks- off” , as some do, listening to their favourite music/songs can calm that person down, which has tremendous benefits for staff in A & E for example. When we provided an MP3 player to a distraught man in the A & E at the BRI, within an hour he was quietly laid back on his bed causing no stress to anyone, allowing staff to get on with their job.

I wonder if you can put out a call to wholesalers who would be willing to provide us with MP3 players in bulk please at a reasonable price. We need as many as we can because the project has proved to be so beneficial to people.

The project is funded by the generosity of the public and currently one of our Purple Angel Ambassadors has a fundraiser on Facebook.

We thought you might be interested in RWA’s latest newsletter – lots of interesting activities including a BRACE Understanding Dementia session on Wednesday 28th July.

This intereactive lecture series by MindHarp sounds interesting. The app is very well received at Happy Days.