Category: Blog

Alan Mordue from Barnet Council’s Adults and Health Transformation Programme Commissioning Group came to give a talk about a recent questionnaire which is part of a public consultation to Barnet residents on the way the council delivers and organises adult social care in Barnet.

A further talk was followed by Susan Blackburn from Barnet Council’s Sheltered Housing department who spoke to us about social housing and also about a new development in Mill Hill which will soon house people with mental health problems including dementia. More details will be provided in the near future which will include eligibility criteria.

We are delighted to have another new venue at the prestigious Hendon Town Hall. The launch was opened by the Mayor of Barnet Cllr. David Longstaff accompanied by the Mayoress Gillian Griffiths.

Also attending, Theresa Villiers MP for Chipping Barnet, Dr Rhonda Cohen sport and exercise psychologist who is head of London Sports Institute & Professor Trish Hafford-Lechfield both from Middlesex University. Dawn Wakeling Director of Adult Social Services, Nicole Babic from Barnet Carers Centre, members from Dementia Club UK, volunteers and Harley our Dementia friendly therapy dog. The chairman and Trustees thanked everybody for attending the launch.

We were very lucky to have the Ionian Clarinet Quartet who are part of a larger group – The Ionian Clarinet Choir who perform over North London and Hertfordshire fundraising for charities. We were delighted they were able to support and play at our event today. The quartet consisted of Rita, Ian, Ken and Adele.

Big thanks to Saracens for their continued support and thanks to the Mayor for choosing Dementia Club UK as one of his charities during his Mayoral year.

The Hendon Town Hall venue will be available every last Thursday of the month.

Following the previous visit by NCS on 6th July another 12 students from the drama group visited the Britannia Centre venue led by Rebecca Reed. The students interacted with the members listening and noting some of their favourite stories from their lives. The students had 10 minutes to prepare a drama whilst we did some other activities.

The drama group decided to re-enact a summer holiday at the beach. It was an apt subject as it was a hot lovely afternoon and choc ices were distributed to all.

Rebecca wrote later that: “The young people said some lovely comments about the club members and were very moved by the stories they heard”

Members enjoyed singing and dancing to their favorite songs from Roy Blass

Today 12 students from National Citizen Service (NCS) visited us. Ansell Cizic who is a teacher and the student’s team leader told us about NCS. It was a lovely summer’s day so we decided to sit outside for this group photo.

NCS is a programme in the summer for 15-17 year olds and is about those young people volunteering in the community and learning about their wider community, gaining skills in interacting with different community groups. Teams of young people learn a skill with a professional in that field and then they go out to a community group to work with the group passing on that skill or creating activities.

Moshe Tamir entertained everyone today with a mix of different songs in many different languages. Everybody joined in singing along. It was an electrifying session full of fun. Moshe brought the microphone around to some of the members who fancied singing a few words. Anthony joined in for a duo and a Russian dance.

Dementia Club UK members, family and friends attended the House Commons, Jubilee Room at Westminster on 15th June 2016. The Mayor of Barnet, Cllr David Longstaff attended and was delighted to announce his support to Dementia Club UK as one of his chosen charities during his year as Mayor.

Mike Freer MP for Finchley and Golders Green hosted this event. We had some singing from baritone Geoffrey Horton accompanied by his pianist Phillip Enscot whilst enjoying some refreshments and buffet.

Mike Freer took the group on a tour of the Palace of Westminster finishing in the debating chamber itself. Mike had asked a question that morning in PMQ’s. We were not allowed to take photos or sit down in the debating chamber but everyone had a lovely time and we are very grateful to Mike Freer for an interesting and informative tour.

Today Diny one of our carers brought a lot of jewellery she has been making over a number of years. She sold a number of pieces to the members and donated the proceeds to our charity – Dementia Club UK. I am very grateful to Diny and thank her very much. Diny said it takes her about 2 evenings to make a piece, she enjoys making them and she believes that the secret of living longer is to keep your mind active by having a hobby you enjoy. Diny will be 90 years young on the 30th of this month. Her mother lived to 102. We had 4 volunteers from Barnet Council Staff who were rushed off their feet as we were very busy today. My thanks to them as I don’t think I could have managed today without their help. Tija our new dance exercise instructor gave us some Spanish dance movements. She explained the 2 ways to clap, the graceful wrist and finger movements and tapping feet.

Lorna Parkinson Community Support Officer “Action on Hearing Loss” came to talk to us about our hearing. She said don’t ignore hearing problems, go and speak to your GP first, they will refer you to a specialist.

She also offered everyone a free hearing test in a private area which most of the members took advantage of. She had batteries and spare tubes and lots of good advice.

This was a very busy session today and fortunately I had a new volunteer I met at the recent Dementia Awareness day at Brent Cross who came and helped and I was very grateful.

I am very pleased to report that the Dementia Awareness Day on the 19th May at Brent Cross was a real success. All of our volunteers attended to help with the day. A lot of people approached us to ask questions, to talk about problems they were experiencing and wanted advice and information. People are now seeing more items in the media about dementia such as the recent Horizon documentary about dementia and Angela Rippon on BBC.

Matthew Offord MP officially launched Dementia Club UK ‘DC UK’ by cutting the ribbon and was happy to talk to the volunteers and meet some of the dementia sufferers. We also had Nigel Wray Chairman of Saracens. We are very proud to be associated with such a successful rugby club who cares and does so much for the community.

Cllr David Longstaff who by the time you read this will be the new Mayor of Barnet, he has very generously chosen Dementia Club UK as one of his charities he will be supporting during his Mayoral year. We will be helping him to achieve this and help him raise money

Following the ribbon cutting, a flash mob congregated who were actually the Zemel Choir. A lot of people gathered to hear the Choir which was conducted by the musical Director Dr Benjamin Wolf. The choir sang beautifully and the acoustics were amazing in the centre point at Brent Cross.

Dementia Club UK is a transition from Saracens Dementia Club which is still sponsored by Saracens. Dementia Club UK is a charity formed in January 2016 and is currently running 4 dementia cafes and will soon be launching the 5th dementia café at Hendon Town Hall on Thursday 28th July.

The pictures shows some of our volunteers, our Dementia Club UK doctor – Dr Angela Parker and also Harley the ‘DC UK’ therapy dog. Harley has been great at the dementia cafés. Dementia sufferers find him very soothing. He is loved by all the members and is happy to receive lots of attention.

Although Dementia is unfortunately growing and there is still no cure, Dementia Club UK will continue to help as many dementia sufferers and their carers and families to continue and enjoy life as much as possible.