Those of you who are keen readers of Shepperton Matters will have noticed that we made an appearance at Big Tree Night last month. The children at St Nicholas Primary School, Shepperton designed us a logo which is being made print friendly and which we hope will become familiar to you over the coming months. The winners were presented with their prizes at the end of a performance by the school.
The children are pictured below with Cllr Maureen Attewell.
I thought I would take some time this month to let you know what our group is about and what else you are likely to see us doing. Our members include two of our local councillors, Maureen Attewell and Robin Sider as well as Spelthorne Council staff, Purple Angels, Cameo, organisations caring for those in their homes and residential homes.
The purpose of our group is to bring together the various charities, agencies and other groups and individuals in and around Shepperton so that they can learn from each other, identify what each of them offers, what else is available and identify any gaps. Can we fill those gaps ourselves by working differently or do we have to ask for help from outside our community?
So, are we just a “talking shop”? Although talking about dementia is important, we also hope to act in more practical ways. Firstly, as a “back room” function for community organisations providing assistance to enable them to spend more time helping those with dementia and their carers. An example of this might be helping to organise fund raising events.
Secondly, by raising awareness of dementia in our community which is why we made an appearance at Big Tree Night and have been working with one of our local schools. We hope to expand this work and so you should be seeing more of us. We hope to have a presence at the Village Fair and to carry out a Summer fund raising event. Details of this will appear in Shepperton Matters so keep reading!
In Shepperton as in many other places, dementia is becoming more common. This is because our population is getting older and surviving other illnesses. We want to help to raise awareness of the challenges that that those with dementia and their carers face.
If you would like to know more about what we do then please contact me, Mark Steptoe on 07514 076289.