The 4RDA Blog
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.
A Busy February With Parish Councils
24/2/2025
The past month has been quite a busy one!• The Four Rivers AGM took place on Monday 3rd February at which, I gave a short presentation about my role, what I have been working on to date and the various types of support that I can offer to parish and town councils and other organisations in the Four Rivers area.
• I attended Shaugh Prior’s parish council meeting (05/02/25) and agreed to follow up after they have considered working towards becoming dementia friendly at their next meeting. At the suggestion of the councillors, I wrote a piece for the March parish magazine to let people know about the work of Four Rivers and also Dementia Friendly Parishes Around the Yealm. It has been agreed that I will contribute articles on a quarterly basis to the magazine. I have also arranged to visit a local resident in early March to provide advice and information about support available after a dementia diagnosis.
• Building on some previous work done, I met with Cllr Guy Pannell and Susanne Archard again in South Brent (11/02/25) to discuss lending some more support to the village to become dementia friendly. This initially included liaising with signage companies to obtain quotes for the creation of dementia friendly signage for the village, which Cllr Pannell will take for discussion at a forthcoming parish council meeting. Other types of support for the future were also discussed at the meeting.
• I attended Ugborough Parish Council’s meeting (12/02/25) and agreed to follow up after they have considered working towards becoming dementia friendly at their next meeting.
Other parish council meetings booked:
• I had planned to attend Ringmore Parish Council's meeting (18/02/25) but they requested that I attend their March meeting instead.
• Ivybridge (17/03/25)-I have been invited to attend their annual town meeting on with an information stand and the opportunity to talk to residents and councillors about the work of Four Rivers and Dementia Friendly Parishes Around the Yealm.
• Kingston (20/03/25)
• I had planned to attend Bickleigh Parish Council meeting (27/02/25) but this has been rescheduled to 27/03/25.
• Harford (07/05/23)
• Modbury-I heard back from the chair and at the moment they do not have a date arranged for a meeting of the dementia friendly working group they are planning as they are still currently in the process of organising and recruiting members.
• Following my attendance at Rattery Parish Council’ meeting in January, I have been advised that they were unfortunately unable to consider working towards becoming dementia friendly at their February meeting so it is on the agenda for their March one.
• 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.
