Dementia Action Week

 Do Not Ask Me to Remember

Do not ask me to remember,

Don’t try to make me understand,

Let me rest and know you’re with me,

Kiss my cheek and hold my hand.

I’m confused beyond your concept,

I am sad and sick and lost.

All I know is that I need you

To be with me at all cost.

Do not lose your patience with me,

Do not scold or curse or cry.

I can’t help the way I’m acting,

Can’t be different though I try.

Just remember that I need you,

That the best of me is gone,

Please don’t fail to stand beside me,

Love me ’til my life is done.

– Owen Darnell

This week (May19-25) is Dementia Action Week, which is an awareness raising campaign. Each year, the Alzheimer's Society works with individuals and organisations across the UK to encourage people to act on dementia.This year the focus is on diagnosis and highlighting to audiences the most common symptoms of dementia.

Click here to find out more and watch a moving, short film about people with dementia.

My grandmother had dementia and so did my dad. Now I'm a volunteer with Memory Tree, a memory club, in five locations across the Bradford District, that brings together people with dementia and those who care for them. The club I go to in Low Moor is always great fun and, I'm sure, helps to raise the spirits of all those who attend, as well as improving everyone's general well-being.

Today we were talking about 'Well Dressing' as part of our topic on traditions, myths and legends. We even 'dressed' our own well! 

Click here to find out more about Memory Tree. 

Writing prompts:

• Set a timer for six minutes and write about your experience of dementia.
• If you were feeling like the person in the poem above, what would bring you comfort? Write about it. 
• Is there a club, or organisation that you attend regularly that helps to lift your spirits? Write about whatever it is and share your writing below by clicking 'No Comments' and posting in the box.