Supporter emails – May 2021

We’ve had a great Dementia Action Week – we’ve run several Dementia Awareness sessions including to 183 Brownies – everyone was very engaged and drew some great brain pictures. We also ran sessions for Cabot Circus. We’ve had our latest Young Onset Dementia working group meeting – great plans that are moving ahead.

Please sign Alzheimer’s Society’s Cure the Care System petition. We will be hosting a webinar with Alzheimer’s Society on 11th June. Save the date!

There’s still time to book onto our Bristol Dementia Charities Network Keeping Active with Dementia webinar on 25th May 2pm-3pm. See this poster for further details.South Gloucestershire Dementia Friendly Communities is running this How becoming Dementia Friendly can help your business and your community webinar on 26th May 13.30-15.00. Our Treasurer Adam will be on the panel.

Great to read about this music trial in The Guardian.

This is a useful blog from Alzheimer’s Society re navigating the social care system.

Good Grief Festival is running two more webinars next week – one with David Kessler and one called Facing your Fear of Death.

Volunteers week is coming up (1st-7th June) – we are always looking for volunteers to help in a variety of ways. Please do get in touch if you would like to join our friendly team.

Dementia Action Week starts on Monday. We have a full week running Dementia Awareness sessions.

Alzheimer’s Society has created this powerful and heartbreaking film to launch the week: the short film, featuring Kate Dickie, shows the impact the broken social care system has on carers. 

Visit the Dementia Action Week webpage to access slides that will help you plan and deliver a virtual event to encourage those in your community to support this year’s DAW theme. Or maybe you could download a poster for your workplace or a Zoom background for the week. 

Another great way to get involved in the week is to encourage members to don their denim and raise much needed funds for Alzheimer’s Society. 

We have received this Dementia Voice newsletter from Alzheimer’s Society. If you would like it to be sent to you directly in future, please contact the Dementia Voice team by emailing yoursay@alzheimers.org.uk

Here is the link for Alzheimer’s Society’s Cure the Care System petition. We will be hosting a webinar with Alzheimer’s Society on this topic in June. Watch this space!

We are having a meeting on 20th May for our Young Onset Dementia working group. If you would like to join us at 7pm please email us on office@bdaa.org.uk and we’ll send you the zoom link.

There’s still time to book onto our Bristol Dementia Charities Network Keeping Active with Dementia webinar on 25th May 2pm-3pm. See this poster for further details.Another good newsletter from We Care Home Improvements which includes the link to our joint webinar on Safety in the Home and Preventing Falls last month.
 Don’t forget it’s WalkFest all this month. There;s lots of walks to join including the Women who Walk event on 18th May run by Bristol Health Partners and Bristol Walking Alliance.

South Gloucestershire Dementia Friendly Communities is running this How becoming Dementia Friendly can help your business and your community webinar on 26th May 13.30-15.00. Our Treasurer Adam will be on the panel.

It’s Dying Matters Awareness Week – this newsletter explains more.

Good Grief Festival is also hosting three more sessions this month – Doodles and Chat, David Kessler and Facing your fear of Death so you can live. All details here.

We’ve been asked to share this study, which is seeking to interview individuals who are bereaved family members of someone who has died with dementia. Through a one-hour interview with each person, the study seeks to explore the immediate experiences of immediate family members (and carers). The aim is to inform future open conversations around death and dying between family members when someone is diagnosed with dementia. To take part in the study, and for further information, please see the attached information and poster and get in touch with Aoife Santry at the University of Bath as4322@bath.ac.uk

Alive’s weekly community gardening group in the grounds of Blaise Weston Court, Broadlands Drive, BS11 0AF in Lawrence Weston on a Wednesday afternoon between 1.15-3.30pm, starts up again next Wednesday 19th May. Led by a coordinator with a team of trained volunteers, they have been growing vegetables, fruit and flowers there and shaping green craft activities together. On good weather days up to 30 can attend outdoors, on poor weather day only BWC residents will be able to attend as only 5 people plus 1 facilitator can gather indoors. The drop-in sessions will remain free and accessible to all, with all tools and resources provided. Please contact the Community Gardens officer on 07557354408 or email communitygardening@aliveactivities.org to find out more/request to be notified when the sessions are open to new members. You can read the full email here.

Professor Myra Conway (UWE) and Professor Jody Mason (University of Bath) are providing one of the Alzheimer’s Research UK ‘Lab Notes” series of public talks plus Q&A on dementia research on Weds 26th May 2021 11am-12 noon.
They will be discussing how protein folding can give clues about how dementia is caused and help identify biological signatures of the condition.
The Lab Notes online events are free to attend, open to everyone, and requires no prior knowledge of dementia research. Please share this with your friends & colleagues.
https://www.alzheimersresearchuk.org/research/see-and-do-science/clues-about-dementia-from-protein-folding/

HAPPY DAYS ARE HERE AGAIN!
We are aiming to open our Happy Days Memory Cafe on Friday 4th June at 2.00.pm for tea, cake and a catch-up. We will meet outside in the Westbury Baptist Church garden in Brainsfield by the side of the church. We are allowed to have 25 people including regulars and volunteers. Please email us on office@bdaa.org.uk if you would like to attend.

We’re very excited to have booked to take Happy Days to Alive’s Dementia Friendly Allotment on July 2nd for a cream tea and Sea Shanty band, plus plant talk and sale. Please book your spot on office@bdaa.org.uk. If it rains, we will rearrange it.
We are having a zoom call this afternoon at 2pm to see pictures of the allotment and hear about it’s progress. Please contact us if you would like to join the call.
 It’s great to hear that Home Instead’s film club is starting again this month. See this poster for details.

We’re working with Wessex Water to promote their Priority Service Register.Sometimes power cuts can happen for reasons beyond our control. We know this can be particularly worrying if you rely on electricity for medical equipment, or if you are elderly, very ill or disabled. This is where our Priority Services Register can help. 

We Care Home Improvements is running Healthy Homes Training next Wednesday 12th May.

Women walk for many reasons – tonight we think about women who walk for transport, connecting with nature, sisterhood and creativity. https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/women-who-walk-tickets-153149810205

Dying Matters Awareness Week, running from 10 – 16 May 2021, is a chance for coalition partners, organisations and individuals to come together and open up the conversation around death, dying and bereavement.

Really good newsletter from Alzheimer’s Society – especially love the Hugs!

Please help BDAA by nominating us (as Bristol Dementia Action Alliance) on the Ecclesiastical website – one charity vote per person.
Ecclesiastical is giving £1 million to charities through their Movement for Good awards. In Phase 1 – 500 charities will each receive £1,000.
As a small local charity, £1000 is a huge chunk of our annual income.
The more nominations a charity receives the greater their chance of winning, so please spread the word and ask friends to vote for BDAA.
All the details are on the link below. Thank you.
https://www.movementforgood.com/index.php?cn=1167404…

We’re very excited that Happy Days returns next Friday 4th June outside Westbury Baptist Church (weather permitting!). If you would like to come along please contact us on office@bdaa.org.uk or 07741 142701 to book your space as we’re limited to 25 in total.
We are also going to Alive’s Dementia Friendly Allotment on 2nd July so please let us know if you would like to attend. We can help with transport costs if needed.

We are delighted to have our first Young Onset Dementia CARERS Support Group in the diary for Wednesday 23rd June 7pm-8.30pm. This is for people from across Bristol, S Glos, Bath and NE Somerset, and N Somerset.
Venue to be confirmed – it’s hoped that it can be in person but if not it will still go ahead on zoom.
If you are interested in attending or supporting the group, please email office@bdaa.org.uk or phone 07741 142701.
We will also post updates in our Denim Generation Facebook page.

So lovely to see this short video by Heather who wants to get 100 care providers signed up around the world on 11th June to her online exercise session.

This is a really moving and informative short film on the BBC.

Thank you to Alzheimer’s Society for this May Activity pack.

We thought you would like to read this BOPF & Bristol City Council newsletter.

This is a brilliant Purple Angel initiative:
FREE PURPLE ANGEL RINGTONE FOR ALL ……….
Too many times people are telephoned to be conned by people who SAY they are from this bank, or that bank and ask for your details? WELL NO MORE!!!!!
Please click on the link below and scroll down to ringtones where you will find two ringtones to click onto and download for yours or a loved ones phone by clicking on the three dots in the right hand corner, https://purpleangel-global.com/mp3-players/?fbclid=IwAR3Zpolgj9WHM6iqLzBjU8EeDi9JsCNPavO37OMYHL6a1-NKMoBiYZsYgDo
The ringtone will sing a you version of “Don’t sit under the apple tree with anybody else but me” but will sing instead….
“Dont give out your bank details to anybody on the phone”, sung and music played by the wonderful ” Martyn Rollings”
So when your phone rings, just before you press answer you will hear someone sing Don’t give out your bank details to anybody on the phone, then if you have a conman on the other end of the phone asking for personal details,?? You will know in a heartbeat exactly what to say to him !!!
The Purple Angel is not just about helping those with dementia but also helping all those that may be vulnerable to this kind of scam, and I have to say Martyn Rollings is a great singer too, please click on and have a listen first !!!!
Best wishes
Norrms, Founder of Purple Angel dementia campaign

Thanks to Subitha for sharing about this Home from Home podcast – Episode 1, Series 2 includes Anndeloris Chacon from Bristol Black Carers. Episode 2, Series 2 focusses on experiences of older LGBTQ+ people in relation to residential care/health and social care. Subitha shares in Episode 3, Series 2.

South Gloucestershire DAA – Communication  and Dementia webinar:
We are pleased to announce that Arabella Swift, Speech and Language Therapist from North Bristol NHS Trust will be joining us for the next of our popular online workshops. Arabella has a special interest in Primary Progressive Aphasia. We will also discuss why dementia brings changes in communication, and provide you with practical guidance on how to have engaging communication that benefits everyone involved.
Also joining us for the workshop will be Dr Joseph Webb of University of Bristol, Dr Emily Oliver of Dementia UK, Mark Swepson of Sirona Care & Health and Mark Poarch, CEO, BRACE Dementia Research.
It’s Volunteers week next week (1st-7th June) – we are always looking for volunteers to help in a variety of ways. Please do get in touch if you would like to join our friendly team.

Tickets are now on sale for BRACE’s Together 4 Dementia 2021 on 2nd November 10.30-3pm online.

Please can everyone email Tony on Chair@bdaa.org.uk instead of his old BT email. Thank you.