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).