In April’s issue ….

Table of Contents

• Welcome Message from Mary

• Advances in dementia detection and drug treatments

• Free online training opportunity:

• Together we are Strong: celebrating 10 years of To …

• You’re invited to our 10th birthday party!

• Volunteer Social: The Father at Altrincham Garrick …

• This Month’s Volunteer Shout-Out

• Staff changes - goodbyes and welcomes!

• And we say welcome to…

• Our Dementia Support Co-ordinators

• Our Dementia Support Workers

Welcome Message from Mary

I always think Spring is more than just new season and a change in weather – it marks a new chapter in the year, one of light and growth and longer days. In a way, it’s more of a new year than January – there’s new life and colour everywhere, in the blossom and the bluebells and fresh green leaves on the trees. Those extra daylight hours give us more time to spend outside, as the sunshine gives us the energy we might have been missing through the winter months.

We’re trying to bring all those Spring vibes to our groups – over the past few weeks our members have been planting bulbs and sunflower seeds, getting out for some short walks when the weather allows, and this week we’ve been talking about all things gardening. We even had our South Manchester Group hard at work doing some weeding in the raised beds! We all know that connecting with nature and getting outside can have a hugely positive impact on our mental health and physical wellbeing, and gardening can be a really accessible way for our members to do some of this.

So, if we think of spring as a kind-of-new-year, then perhaps this could be a new year’s resolution – to take time every day to be present in the world around you, to breathe deeply and move your body in a way that works for you. Perhaps that looks like gardening for you too, or enjoying a cup of tea in the garden, taking your lunch break outside, going for a walk or a run or a bike ride and noticing all that is growing and changing around you, even on our city streets. Life and work and volunteering and studies can take up so much time and energy, and making time to recharge is so important.

As usual, take care of your precious selves.

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 07579831790

Advances in dementia detection and drug treatments

abnormal proteins associated with Alzheimer’s disease. Having regular infusions of these drugs has been shown to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s.

This is interesting an exciting news as there have been very few advances in treatment for the last 20-30 years.

You can watch an episode of Panorama, broadcast in February, that explains this.

On that episode you’ll also see film clips of our Walk & talk Group – although, sadly, we didn’t get any credit for that footage!

Alzheimer’s Research is another good website that explains about the diagnostic blood tests.

So we’re hoping that there will be a big investment into Memory Clinics so that they can perform the early blood tests to detect the various biomarkers of a type of dementia.  It will then be interesting to see how many people will be offered the treatment (in effect like having fortnightly chemotherapy).  I suspect that only people with early stage dementia or those with young onset dementia will be offered that treatment as it will be very costly to administer.

So, my other hope is that this renewed interest and commitment to treating people with dementia will also extend to the life-enhancing interventions that TDS offers.  It’s simply not ethical to give a diagnosis, tell someone that they aren’t eligible for IV drug treatments, and then leave them to get on with it!

Charities like TDS desperately need more secure funding to be able to continue supporting people.  We think this funding should come from the NHS and local council but, in the meantime, we’ll carry on fundraising ourselves.

Free online training opportunity:

The great thing about volunteering with TDS, is that your knowledge and understanding of Dementia will develop naturally through the time you spend with our wonderful members. However, if you’d like to take that understanding a step further - we’d encourage you to take this online Foundations in Dementia FutureLearn course:

The course is free to complete - there’s an opportunity to pay for a digital certificate at the end, but it isn’t necessary. FutureLearn will release 1 module per week, which will take you around an hour to complete. You’ll have 6 weeks to complete the the course before it expires. The topics covered are:

• Week 1 - Inside the brain

• Week 2 - Assessment and treatment

• Week 3 - Law and ethics

• Week 4 - Communication skills

• Week 5 - Family and friends

• Week 6 - Living well with dementia and end of life care

It would be a great course for anyone interested into going into a health and social care profession, but also a good learning opportunity for those just looking to expand their existing knowledge of Dementia.

Together we are Strong: celebrating 10 years of Together Dementia Support

We will be hosting a prestigious showcase and retrospective at Manchester Central Library on Thursday 4 July 2024.

Delegates will be invited to hear from illuminating speakers from the medical world, as well as people with lived experience of dementia or caring for a person living with dementia. There will also be uplifting performances from our dementia choirs.

We’ll look back on 10 years enabling people to live positively, maintain skills, and make new friends in Manchester, and we’ll look to the future of TDS, dementia support in our region, and advances in the medicine and research.

A light lunch and refreshments will be provided.

If you can’t make it on the day, we will be livestreaming the event.

The event is free to attend.

You’re invited to our 10th birthday party!

Get your glad rags on and celebrate with us at the TDS 10th Birthday party

You are invited to join us for an early evening meal, dance and celebration. Get up and boogie, relax with friends and enjoy a delicious hot Caribbean curry. Carers, members living with dementia, volunteers, supporters, donors and partners are all invited to join us for this evening of celebration.

Tickets are free, but if you can make a small donation to the charity that would be very much appreciated. Your donation will be spent on our vital services and will not be used to cover the cost of the party, which we are paying for ourselves.

This is a drop-in event, so don’t worry if you can’t stay for the whole duration - you can come and go as you please!

Reserve your tickets using the button below, email [email protected] or call 0161 226 7186.

Volunteer Social: The Father at Altrincham Garrick Theatre

Exciting news! We have 13 free tickets to see The Father, at the Altrincham Garrick Playhouse on the 9th May, at 7:30pm. The theatre is supporting Together Dementia Support with these performances, so we’d love to take a gang of you wonderful volunteers for a fun night out, to represent TDS and show our thanks to theatre. Theatre and storytelling can be a great way of seeing, hearing different perspectives - and this play takes a look at the world through the eyes of a man experiencing dementia:

The Father (Le Père) is a play about a man called Andre. Now 80 years old, Andre was once a tap dancer. He lives with his daughter Anne and her husband Antoine. Or was he an engineer whose daughter Anne lives in London with her new lover, Pierre? The thing is, he is still wearing his pyjamas, and he can’t find his watch. He is starting to wonder if he’s losing control…

Tickets will be offered on a first come, first serve basis so please do let me know asap if you’d like to come - I think it’ll be fantastic.

Email: [email protected]

Phone: 07579831790

This Month’s Volunteer Shout-Out

This month’s shout-out goes to Simon, who volunteers at our Moss Side group and has recently started Together At Home:

Simon started as a group volunteer at our Monday Moss Side group in the summer, and has recently completed his training to become one of our new Together at Home volunteers. Starting 1:1 volunteering after getting used to our groups can be a real change of pace, but Simon has adapted to his new role swimmingly - it has been amazing to see such a positive relationship growing between him and Nick, the member he is matched with.

They have been visiting different art galleries in Manchester, and after each visit, Simon has done a lot of research into the people, places and things Nick spoke about in order to engage more in conversation. He has been amazing and so attentive, and it’s been a real pleasure to witness another successful TAH match blossoming.

Simon is writing a little bit about his journey as a Together at Home volunteer for our next newsletter - so that’s something to look forward to!

If you think you might be interested in becoming a Together at Home volunteer - talk to me or Jo. We’re always looking for people to join our little team, so if you have questions or you’d like a chat about it, get in touch.

Staff changes - goodbyes and welcomes!

Since our last newsletter, we’ve said ‘see you later’ to some of our amazing team:

And we say welcome to…

Our Dementia Support Co-ordinators

Our Dementia Support Workers