The 4RDA Blog
A Variety Of Actions Happening Throughout May
3/6/2025
There has been a variety of things happening throughout May:• Following on from attending Ugborough’s parish council meeting back in February, they have designated a councillor to take the lead on dementia friendly work. I met with him (06/05/25) to discuss how to start moving things forward. It was agreed that he would do a walk round of the parish to familiarise himself with what is there and speak to his fellow councillors about it by their meeting in June. We would then make contact with each other again after this.
• I was the guest speaker at Ermington parish council’s annual meeting (06/05/25). The councillors were interested in looking at making the village dementia friendly. They have designated a councillor to lead on this and she will put it on the agenda for their June meeting to discuss how they would like to start off. I will contact them following their meeting to see what support they would like with this.
• Sparkwell-I attended their parish council meeting (13/05/25). I will follow up with them after they have considered working towards becoming dementia friendly at their next meeting.
• I visited Cornwood with some colleagues from the Four Rivers Dementia Alliance to go along their dementia friendly walking route and see the special bench that has been installed (14/05/25). This is something that is beneficial not just for people living with dementia but for anyone who lives in or visits the village. It is a wonderful contribution to the parish of Cornwood. See the PDF of some of the photographs relating to the visit.
• I have agreed with the person who is organising the summer fair over August Bank Holiday weekend at Ringmore, to send some Four Rivers and Dementia Friendly Parishes literature to display.
• I attended Bickleigh Parish Council meeting in March and am currently waiting to hear back from them about how they might wish to progress with the offer of support to work towards becoming dementia friendly.
• During National Dementia Action Week (19-26th May), I put up a dementia friendly display stand in Ivybridge Library which was there throughout the week with information about both Four Rivers Dementia Alliance and Dementia Friendly Parishes Around the Yealm and a selection of dementia friendly literature. See the photograph of our stand.
• Last month I worked on drafting a “working towards becoming dementia friendly” information pack for schools and this month I have been working on creating a draft pack for retailers. General Practice surgeries will be next. Currently, the draft for school's is being proofed ready for printing and a strategy discussed for distributing.
Other actions in the pipeline are that will be expanded upon in June are:
• I will be meeting with Emily Damant who is an Admiral Nurse (02/06/25) to talk about their free Admiral Nurse clinics which are running in partnership with Nationwide Building Society branches throughout the UK (inc. Plymouth and other areas of Devon) and to let her know what's happening and what's available within the local community ensure they share appropriate support with people attending clinics.
• Cornwood-I am booked to attend their parish council meeting (03/06/25).
• Kingston-I am booked to attend their parish council meeting (19/06/25).
• I am booked to deliver a dementia awareness session for South Brent District & Caring’s volunteers. This session will also be open to the public (24/06/25). This event will also be publicised on our website.
• Harford Parish Meeting, I had planned to attend their parish meeting (07/05/25) but there was a mix-up with the date and I have been invited to attend their next meeting in November instead. Harford is the smallest parish area in the Four Rivers Dementia Alliance area and hold parish meetings instead of regular parish council meetings. (Currently awaiting a date to be confirmed for this).
April Has Been An Interesting and Varied Month
29/4/2025
• I had an information stand and spoke at the National and International Perspectives of Dementia Conference at Home Park in Plymouth (11/04/25) about the challenges of rural dementia and ways to meet those challenges by the work of both Dementia Friendly Parishes around the Yealm and Four Rivers Dementia Alliance.• I visited Diptford (14/04/25) to carry out a dementia friendly building assessment on the village hall and have subsequently submitted my report.
• Currently, there is a dementia wellbeing centre being set up in Kingsbridge and I went out to meet Suzi Garrod (CEO) to offer support and advice around making the building dementia friendly by carrying out a building assessment (15/04/25). I am currently in the process of typing up the report.
• I have started work on creating “working towards becoming dementia friendly” information packs to share with various sectors of the community. So far, I have drafted out a pack for schools and retail will be next.
• Following on from attending Ugborough’s parish council meeting (12/02/25), they expressed a keen interest to take dementia friendly action and have a councillor designated to take the lead on this. I met him at the South Hams Dementia Forum meeting (16/04/25) and we are currently in the process of arranging a meeting to discuss how to start moving things forward.
• I attended Bickleigh Parish Council meeting (27/03/25) and after subsequently making contact with the parish council again, I am currently waiting to hear back from them about how they might wish to progress with the offer of support to work towards becoming dementia friendly.
Other parish council meetings booked:
• Ermington-I will be guest speaker at the annual parish council meeting (06/05/25).
• Harford-I had planned to attend their parish council meeting (07/05/25) but there was a mix-up with the date and I have been invited to attend their next meeting in November instead (Date to be confirmed).
• Sparkwell-I am booked to attend their parish council meeting (13/05/25).
• Cornwood-I will be visiting Cornwood with some colleagues to go along their dementia friendly walking route and see the special bench that has been installed (14/05/25). I am also booked to attend their parish council meeting (03/06/25).
• Kingston-I am booked to attend their parish council meeting (19/06/25)
Photographs of the National and International Perspectives of Dementia Conference (pdf)
A Very Busy March - Parish Councils And Other Interested Parties
31/3/2025
Like February, March has continued to be busy!• Resulting from attending Shaugh Prior’s parish council meeting in early February, I wrote a piece for the March issue of the parish magazine about the work of 4RDA and Dementia Friendly Parishes Around the Yealm. I also visited a local resident earlier on this month to provide a variety of dementia support information following a dementia diagnosis in the family. The parish council were going to consider the offer of support to work towards becoming a dementia friendly parish council but due to a number of other ongoing pressing priorities, they have put the offer of support onto their April meeting agenda for discussion.
• Following on from attending Ugborough’s parish council meeting (12/02/25), they have said they are very keen to take action, they have designated a councillor to take the lead on this and the plan is that he will move things forward after attending the next South Hams Dementia Forum meeting in Mid-April.
• I attended Ivybridge Town Council’s annual meeting (17/03/25) with an information stand, a variety of dementia friendly literature and spoke to residents and councillors about the work of both 4RDA and Dementia Friendly Parishes Around the Yealm.
• After attending Ringmore’s parish council meeting (18/03/25), they have invited 4RDA to have an information stand at their summer fair in August and have requested information for their parish council website so their residents can be signposted for support.
• I attended Bickleigh Parish Council meeting (27/03/25) and shared the town and parish council information pack with the councillors. Following on from that, I have spoken to a local resident and provided a variety of dementia-related support information following a dementia diagnosis in the family. I will make contact with the parish council again after they have had time to consider the offer of support to work towards becoming dementia friendly.
• I attended Newton and Noss Parish council’s annual meeting (29/03/25) with an information stand and dementia friendly literature and spoke to residents and councillors present about 4RDA and Dementia Friendly Parishes Around the Yealm.
Other parish council meetings booked:
• I had planned to attend Kingston Parish Council meeting (20/03/25) but due to maintenance work being carried out on the meeting venue, I have been asked to attend at the June meeting instead.
• Ermington -I have been invited to be guest speaker at the annual parish council meeting (06/05/25).
• Harford-I am booked to attend their parish council meeting (07/05/25)
• Sparkwell-I am booked to attend their parish council meeting (13/05/25)
Additionally:
• I wrote a piece for the April edition of IMAG about the work of 4RDA and Dementia Friendly Parishes Around the Yealm. This local magazine is circulated to 8,700 people in Ivybridge and 12 surrounding communities, including Yealmpton, Ugborough, Ermington, Cornwood, South Brent, Sparkwell, Harford, Lee Mill, Bittaford, Moorhaven, Lutton and Wrangaton.
• I will be visiting Diptford (14/04/25) to carry out a dementia friendly building assessment on the village hall.
• There is a dementia wellbeing centre being set up in Kingsbridge and I have arranged with Suzi Garrod (CEO) to visit to offer support and advice around making the building dementia friendly (15/04/25).
• I have continued with researching community groups, businesses, schools, churches and other organisations to approach to offer support to become dementia friendly in the various parish areas.
• I will soon be making a start on creating working towards becoming dementia friendly information packs to share with various sectors e.g. Faith, retail, care, community groups, schools etc.
